


Next To Me

by why_cant_turtles_fly



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Rock Band, Artist Steve Rogers, Fluff, Happy Ending, Happy pretty much all the way thru tbh, How Do I Tag, I Tried, Inspired by an Imagine Dragons Song, M/M, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, Title from an Imagine Dragons Song
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-02
Updated: 2020-07-05
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:01:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 27
Words: 29,517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25035142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/why_cant_turtles_fly/pseuds/why_cant_turtles_fly
Summary: Bucky is a lead singer in a band called 'The Avengers'. He would like to say that they are awesome, rich, famous, popular, known even, but noooope. It was really just him and his friends Natasha, Sam and Clint in a band together. And, of course, their most important member, Peggy, who should have an award for putting up with them. They invite some guy in to do the cover work for their album, someone just as young and broke as they are, and Bucky doesn't think much of it until his life changes forever.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! All of the songs in this (apart from one I think) are by Imagine dragons, my favourite band when I wrote this. If something seems off it's because it is, and I'm too lazy to fix it. I originally posted this on Wattpad over a year ago, and literally no part of it has changed. I copy pasted everything. Anyway, on with the shit show.
> 
> P. S all notes at the top are now me notes, all notes at the bottom are my notes from when I actually wrote it.

Today was going to be a good day. Or, that was what Bucky told himself as he sat in early morning traffic, still half asleep. He was on his way to the small studio that he shared with the rest of his band. They weren't at all well known, and they barely made enough for decent living conditions, but Bucky would never give it up. His music meant everything to him.

When Bucky finally arrived, loud drumming was already booming out of the windows. He walked inside and saw Natasha, the band's drummer, already practicing. Nat was always the first here, and Bucky didn't know how she did it. Getting up as early as he did in the morning was difficult, its still a mystery to him how she did it.

"Nat, it ain't even half eight yet," Bucky said as she walked over to him, barely a hair out of place, "I'm pretty sure ya' just woke up the entire neighbourhood." 

Nat laughed. "Well, they will have woken up to a fabulous drum solo," she replied, smirking, "I don't know what you're complaining about."

Over the next half hour the rest of the band members started coming in. Sam immediately started working on an idea for his bass guitar and Peggy, who was the manager, went over to her desk to see whatever paperwork she needed to do for that day. Clint, like normal, arrived fifteen minutes after everyone else, a latte in his hand. 

"So, Peggy," Clint said, lounging on one of the couches, "what's on the agenda for today?" 

Peggy looked up from her laptop and swiveled her chair to face him. She opened her notebook and flicks through it until she found the right page. "Well, Sam's saying he wants to write some bass guitar music, so I guess we are going to have to do that later," she said, in a British accent, gesturing at Sam, who was so wrapped up he didn't take notice of anyone sat on the couches. "And... there's that guy who's going to do the cover art for smoke and mirrors coming in ten minutes! Clint, thank God you were actually on time today!" she glared at Clint.

Smoke and mirrors was their first (and only) album they'd ever released and they still didnt have an album cover for it. It was one of the only things Bucky had ever made that he was actually proud of. The vocals were great and the songs, in his opinion, were actually relatively decent. Sure, he was a bit disappointed when he realised that not many people actually listened to the album, but he hadn't expected just to go automatically to the top. Until now, however, they hadn't been able to find a good artist who didn't charge to much. He hoped that once the album was fully done with everything they might actually start to be known. 

The doorbell rang. As Nat got up to answer it Peggy yelled to Sam to get off his guitar and say hi. He heard muttering at the door and then some foot steps so he turned his head to see who this guy was.

For a second, Bucky froze. The guy who had walked in was angelic, with beautiful blond hair and the prettiest blue eyes. Bucky momentarily forgot how to function properly. 

"Hi, I'm Steve Rogers," he said confidently, looking up at everybody. He had to look up because he was so small and skinny, he was probably shorter then Peggy. 

Bucky forgot how to form correct sentences for a second or to. "Er... I'm Bucky Barnes, nice to meet you!" Then he mentally face palmed and let everyone else introduce themselves.

"I listened to your album, it's better then I expected!" Steve said, as he layed out his paper on our table. 

"Thanks" bucky stammered, and saw Nat raise an eyebrow at him from behind Steve's back. How was she onto him already? 

\------

The rest of the morning passed quickly, and even with a lot of zoning out and staring at Steve from Bucky, they actually ended up getting stuff done. Around twelve Steve announced that he would be heading back home to draw what they'd thought of and he'd be back tomorrow. They ordered a pizza and spent the rest of the afternoon helping Sam out with his bass guitar music. 

When Bucky got home that day, he couldn't get Steve out of his head. He couldn't for the life of him figure out why Steve kept popping in and out of his thoughts and eventually got so annoyed he just went to bed.

\------

T

he next morning, he woke up feeling relatively well rested and almost beat Natasha to the studio for once. He immediately started writing some lyrics to go with Sam's bass music and didn't care when Nat started drumming really loudly. Eventually, after everyone arrived, he heard a knock at the door.

"I'll get it!" He yelled as he tried to hide the smile that was lighting up his face. At the door was Steve, looking as pretty as he had yesterday. "Hey Steve!" He said cheerfully. And led Steve down to the others. They spent the rest of the day perfecting the album cover and by the end of the day it was something everyone loved. 

"Hey, Steve, do you wanna hear some of our new songs?" Sam suggested after they'd finished, mainly because he was eager to show someone his bass music he'd been working on. Steve quickly agreed and Bucky found himself at the microphone, getting ready to sing. He took a deep breath and started.

' _So this is what you meant,_

_When you that you were spent,_

_And now its time to build from the bottom of the pit,_

_Right to the top._

_Don't hold back._

_Packing my bags and giving the academy a rain check._

_I don't ever want to let you down,_

_I don't ever want to leave this town,_

_'Cause after all,_

_The city never sleeps at night._

_Its time to begin,_

_Yes it is,_

_I get a little bit bigger, but then, I'll admit,_

_I'm just the same as I was,_

_Now don't you understand,_

_Im never changing who I am.'_

Bucky continued singing the whole song, and was greeted with a huge round of applause from Steve (and a smaller one from Peggy, who'd heard it all before).

"That was amazing, you guys!" He said enthusiastically, "how are you not, like, world famous yet?" 

They laughed and packed away our things and everyone started heading home. 

"Hey Steve, do you need a lift?" Bucky offered, semi-shyly. Steve nodded and they headed out to Bucky's car together. 

When they were in the car, Bucky offered, "you wanna go get some coffee? I'll pay."

"Sure thing!" Said Steve, his face lighting up. Bucky decided he could probably stare at that smile all day and not get bored. "I know a great place, come on!" 

Bucky smiled at Steve's excitement and climbed into his car. 

"So," Bucky said once they had got there and sat down with their drinks, "I gotta admit, these drinks are really nice," he said, giving Steve a smile that made his cheeks go red. 

"Umm, well thanks," Steve stammered, looking down. "Sooo... um, is Nat normally that scary?" 

Bucky laughed loudly and they quickly and easily fell into a conversation. Bucky found himself absent mindedly staring at Steve, who seemed to be getting cuter and cuter by the minute. 

A while later, Bucky dropped Steve off at his apartment and felt that he didn't want to see Steve go. Weird. He drove off anyway and came home happy and content.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooooooo forgot to mention that some of the things I say in the notes r completely irrelevant and incorrect. There was a video at the top, but there isn't anymore cos I ain't on bloody Wattpad. Enjoy anyway!

The next Saturday, when Steve was roaming around in his apartment in his pajamas, he heard a knock at the door and was surprised, but pleased, to see Bucky there with two coffees in his hands. 

"Hi!" Steve greeted cheerfully, "Hang on, I need to get dressed, but come in!" He shut the door behind Bucky, thankfully shutting all the cold February air outside. As Bucky peeled off his wet coat and went to sit down, Steve hurried of to try and find something decently clean to wear. 

He finally emerged from his room and took the coffee from the kitchen counter that Bucky had left there, surprised to find that it was still warm.

"I'm about to go to Peggy's," Bucky said when he saw Steve, "D'you wanna come?" 

"Sure thing!" Steve replied. He couldn't think of a better way to spend his Saturday, and it wasn't like he had any plans anyway. So they bundled themselves up in coats and scarves and headed out.

Steve was glad when he finally got to Peggy's apartment, and let the warmth sink through his bones as he got inside. It was an incredibly tidy place, with a lot of white walls and mirrors, much nicer then his. 

"Hey Bucky!" said Nat as soon as they entered, "Oh, and Steve," she smirked.

"Hi guys," Bucky replied while Steve waved and they went to sit down on one of the couches. Bucky suddenly became very aware of how close he was sat to steve.

"Right, so, there's this radio station," Sam started to explain, "that if you text them the right code, they'll go down the list of everyone who's sent them it and pick someone randomly to call. If you get called, you get to choose what song gets played next on the radio."

"So you're saying that we try and play one of our songs?" Bucky replied, a smile creeping onto his face.

"Exactly," Peggy interrupted. "Now if you boys want to come over here and text them from the number off my phone, that would be great," she smiled.

The next few hours passed in a flurry of chatting, laughing, take-out indians, and a bunch of songs no one really cared about playing in the background. Suddenly, Clint's phone started ringing, and as he answered it, his voice came through on the radio. Everyone sat up in exitement, almost not daring to believe they actually got on.

"Hello?" Clint said, looking surprised at hearing his voice coming through the radio.

"Oh my god, Clint, you're on the radio!" Sam yelled in the background, and everyone laughed when that came through as well.

"Hello,"said the presenter's voice, which Bucky recognized as Thor Odinson's, the famous radio presenter. Huh. He didn't know that he did this job on the side. "I'm presuming that your name is Clint, from your friend's yelling."

"Yes, it is"

"So what's you're request for today?" 

"I Bet My Life by the Avengers please," he requested, a smile breaking out into his face, "and enjoy." With that the line went dead. That was Clint's favourite song of theirs, mainly because it wad the one he had done most of the composing for, and it was his song.

Then their song started playing, and the moment almost seemed unreal to Bucky. He couldn't believe it. Everyone jumped up in exitement and Steve grabbed Bucky hand in the process. Bucky decided not to question it and enjoy it while it lasted. 

Eventually, when the song had finished, everyone sat back down, but it took alot longer then that for the smiles to wear off their faces. Bucky was still glowing when they left to go home, and walked around cheerfully in his house as he prepared himself dinner.

Steve held your hand, the little voice in the back of his head told him, not being mean for once, he might actually like you back. What if he doesn't though, the other part of his head replyed, what if was an accident, or.. 

Bucky cut that thought off straight away. He pushed it to the back of his head. He wasn't going to let anything spoil his mood that day.

\------

The next day when he walked into the studio, he was surprised to find that Nat wasn't doing her usual early-morning drumming. Instead, Nat was sat on a couch scrolling through her phone, a wide smile on her face. 

"What's so good 'bout your phone today, Nat?" Bucky asked as she looked up at him.

"Oh, only that we have, like double the amount of people that have bought ours songs. And listened to it on YouTube and things," she smiled even wider, " The next pay check is going to be good!"

Bucky sat down next to her and pulled out his phone. His face brightened as he saw what was going on. Before they knew it, everyone else had arrived, and started doing the same thing. 

"You will not beleive who just rang me," exclaimed Peggy loudly as she walked into the room, "there's this guy, says he's from one of the most major radios in the state, and he wants to meet us!" 

The room was filled with exited yelling and shouting, and everyone hurried over to peggy laptop, who was researching the guy, seeing if he was dodgy or not, and when they figured out he was actually being genuine, Peggy immediately started e-mailing him, with the rest of the band staring curiously over her back at the screen, clearly making Peggy uncomfortable. It wasn't like they cared, though. They were all to exited.

The rest of the morning was a hustle as they tryed to get everything planned. Why was it so hard to find a date where they were all free? Bucky just didn't get it. It all used to be so much easier when they were kids.

And at last, after most of the morning had gone, Bucky finally said what he'd been thinking: 

"Nobody tell Steve."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Helloooooo! I'm surprised ur actually still reading this, and tba I suprised I'm still writing this. I'm surprised I even started writing it in the first place. Anyway, tell me what you think! Also good ways to improve!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got nothing to say anymore I'll just shut up and let u read these miserable little chapters.

A few days later, Bucky was at Steve's house again. This time, Steve wasn't as suprised to see him, but was pleased all the same. It was almost five, so Bucky had come straight from work, and, luckily for him, Steve had just finished for the day.

"D'you want to go an' get dinner, or somethin'?" Bucky asked when Steve saw him. Steve immediately agreed and rushed to go and find his coat and scarf, not wanting to catch a cold, like he always seemed to do when he went outside. 

They travelled around until they found a decent looking place to eat, which was a warm and friendly-looking Chinese buffet that was tucked away behind some other shops. They got inside, and Bucky had to admit, the food was actually pretty good.

"So," Bucky started, once they had had a good few minutes to devour the food, "have any good things to draw lately?" 

At this topic, Steve brightened up. "Actually, this mornin' I was working on the most beautiful peice for the front of a book. Course, hardly anyone knows who the author is, but since when did anybody know the people I work for? Anyway, it was this book about two men who get fed up of modern society and go and live in the rainforest. Weird book, but it was good. I get to draw a beautiful scene on the front cover of the Amazon rainforest and there's these pretty exotic birds and colourful flowers. I love drawin' birds. And......" Steve rambled on and Bucky sat and listened admiring Steve. He found Steve adorable when he talked about something he really cared about, he seemed to have so much enthusiasm for everything. 

They carried on chatting, though to be fair, Steve was doing most of the talking, until it was time to leave and pay the bill. Steve reached out to take it, but Bucky snatched it away from him.

"Dont worry, Stevie," he said, "I'll pay."

It wasn't like Steve had the money to refuse, but that's not to say that he didn't thank Bucky a lot instead.

They got back to Steve's house and Steve immidiately went and flopped on the couch. "You wanna watch a movie?" Steve offered lazily. 

"Sure, what do you wanna watch?" Bucky replied. He was glad to spend more time with Steve and not go home.

"I dunno, maybe just put on Netflix and we'll see what comes up." 

Bucky sat down on the couch next to Steve and it creaked beneath him. It was probably old, though Bucky couldn't say anything. The One he had was almost as bad. They started to scroll slowly through Netflix. They finally agreed on a show and settled down to watch it.

"Hey, Buck," Steve said randomly. "Your real name is James, right?"

"Yeah."

"So why do people call you Bucky?" 

"So I can tell the difference between people I know an' people I don' know," Bucky joked, "people I don' know call me James, people I know call me Bucky."

"Huh," Steve said after a long pause, a slight smile on his face. Bucky really hoped that Steve couldn't see that he was watching him, mesmerized. He didn't want to seem creepy, but Steve was just so pretty.

About an hour in, Bucky felt Steve's head hit his shoulder. Bucky looked round and saw that Steve had fallen asleep. Not wanting to disturb him, Bucky tried to reach for a blanket to lay over him, trying his best not to move his shoulder. Steve was so small, he reasoned, he probably need a blanket. 

It took about 15 minutes before Bucky slowly drifted off as well, his head resting on top of Steve's.

\------

Bucky woke to sunlight streaming through the window the next morning, and for a second he was completely confused about where he was. Then something groaned on his chest and started to move. Bucky suddenly remembered that he was at Steve's and also found that, at some point during the night, they moved and Steve was now laying with his head in Bucky's chest and Bucky had wrapped an arm protectively around Steve.

"What's goin' on?" He heard a Steve say groggily. 

"We fell asleep," Bucky replied, starting to wake up a bit now. He glanced at the clock. "It's nearly eight, we should probably get up."

"Noooooo," Steve complained, "you're warm" 

Bucky laughed and sat up as best he could while trying not to hurt Steve. Sometimes he felt like if just one thing went wrong, Steve's entire, thin frame would shatter like glass. 

Bucky wandered over to the kitchen, looking for something to eat. Then he remembered. Today was the day that they were meeting that guy from the radio. Peggy would probably murder him if he was late today. But we don't meet him until the afternoon part of his brain said why rush? For some reason, Bucky decided to listen to that part of his brain. Steve walked next to him and got cereal and to bowls of of the cupboard. 

"Cereal?" He asked and Bucky smiled and made his way over to Steve's small table that was in the corner of his kitchen. Bucky ate the cereal and admired how cute Steve looked in the mornings. Of course, he didn't say that out loud. He helped Steve wash the bowls up and then apologised a lot, because he had to leave to go to work. Steve seemed a little disappointed when he said that but understood. Bucky wished he could stay longer, but if he didn't get to work soon be of his band members would probably kill him.

He headed out, and was internally thanking himself for putting a spare set of clothes in his car that time. He set off, driving through the cold morning and towards almost certain doom, but Bucky didn't care. He didn't give a single shit.

Because that morning was the best morning he'd ever had.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> helllllooooo!!! Wow I got carried away. This was only meant to be half a chapter that was for this. (Wow great grammer me) also, gold star for you if you actually bothered to read this far!! Woo! 
> 
> Also this chapter is exactly 1000 words without the a/n so yay!


	4. Chapter 4

"Of all the days to be late!" Peggy yelled at him the minute he walked th rough the door. "You, Bucky, are in so much trouble!"

"Sorry, sorry, I slept in," Bucky said back, which wasn't entirely a lie. "And then traffic was bad," that was a lie. "Anyway, we're not meeting him 'til this afternoon why are you in a rush?" Peggy glared at him and stuffed a thick pile of paper in his hands.

"Seeing as you are so late and made me worry, here's the paperwork for you to do, mister!" Peggy said as he sat down and groaned. "I swear on of these days I'm actually going to murder you!"

"I doubt any of you could ever murder anyone," Bucky said back.

"Wouldn't be a first," said Nat from the couch, with a straight face. Bucky couldn't tell if she was kidding or not. 

Buckys got started on the paperwork they had to give the radio guy to let their song be on the radio, and Bucky wondered how Peggy put up with doing this all the time. It was about as exciting as an hour long grammar test and was incredibly boring. It took him roughly an an hour and a half and he hoped that he would never have to do anything like that again. Why do you need to do that much paper work just to put your song on the radio?

Almost to quickly, it was time to leave, and they all piled into Clint's car, which was the biggest, so they didn't waste petrol. They drove to the tall tower where the radio station was based and got some odd looks from security as they walked in. Probably because they weren't wearing suits like everyone else. Oops. 

After travelling in possibly the longest lift ride ever, they got to the right floor. They walked down the hall and knocked on the door of the office. A loud 'come in' was shouted from inside, so, obviously, they went in.

Peggy lead the way, "Hello sir, we're the-" 

"Loki?" Said Clint suddenly. 

The man stood up. He was tall and thin, with very long dark hair, and if he'd been wearing anymore black Bucky would've thought he was a witch. "Clint? Wow. I thought you did physics, not music! Wow, a whole three years wasted. Also are you still with Laura?"

Clint laughed, "Well it's a long story," he started, "and of course I'm still with Laura! We're engaged!"

They all looked between the pair in confusion. 

"Really? Where's my wedding invite then?" He said with a sly grin on his face, "Say hi to her for me."

"If you don't mind me asking," Sam butted in, "but how the hell do you two know each other?"

"We were roommates in college," Clint started to explain, turning to the rest of them. "Me, him, Laura and some other people all shared a tiny flat. After college he just kind of disappeared and we didn't hear from him." 

"So the whole time while we were looking up who he was, you knew him and didn't say anything," Bucky said.

"I thought it was someone different!" Clint argued back. 

"Really?" said Loki, as if he couldn't believe that Clint had gotten dumber, "How many 'Loki Odinsons' do you meet?" 

At this the whole team started laughing, even Clint, who also looked pretty embarrassed.

"Anyway, let's actually do work," Loki gestured for them to take a seat in the chairs he had in his spacious office. "I'll need to ask you a few questions before you have your song played on the radio, just to check for security and all that nonsense. Any questions?" Sam raised his hand, "For god's sake, put your hand down, you're not in school." Sam quickly put his hand down.

"What song are you going to be playing?" 

"Gold."

\------

It was a few hours before they were finally done and Nat thought it was a few hours to long. She had never been comfortable with telling people about herself, much less the annoying 'where did you originally come from?' Or 'how come you're in America now?' She thought over her interveiw in her car on the way to May's, wondering if there was anything she said wrong. 

May's one of her best friends, they were pen pals growing up, and later on, May helped Nat migrate to America. Nat was going to visit her and her nephew, Peter, who lived with her. It had been a while since Nat had actually gone to her apartment, mainly they just met at coffee shops and cafes. The only reason that she was going to May's was that this morning she had got a text from her saying: 'hello! peter has just found out that ur a drummer and has been begging me to meet u. U no how he is about wanting to learn the drums. Do u wanna pop round later if ur not to busy?' 

Nat had quickly replied that she would come if the interveiw thing didn't go on to long, so here she was, going to meet them.

Nat arrived and may gave me a warm welcome and invited me to come and chat. She was suprised to find that Peter wasn't home yet, before May explained he got a detention. At that Nat laughed. 

Half an hour later they heard the frount door opening and Peter walked in. He saw Nat sitting on the couch and rushed over to greet her. 

"Oh my god! Are you May's drummer friend?" He started, talking at an amazing speed. "What's it like? What band do you play for? Are you, like, really, really really famous?"

Nat smiled at the enthusiasm this boy had, suprisingly not feeling completely overwhelmed by the questions. "I play for a band called the Avengers," she started to explain, "No, I'm not really, really famous but I do love drumming. It's great. Especially when you get to annoy your friends by playing at half eight in the morning." 

Peter laughed. "It sounds awesome! I wish I could play the drums!"

"I could teach you," Nat offered, a little suprised at herself. "I'll pick you up this same time, next week, and I'll take you to our studio. How's that?" 

Peter's mouth fell open in shock. "Heck yeah!" He yelled. "Thanks so much, miss, thank you, thank you, thank you!" 

Nat laughed at Peter's antics and began chatting to May. She later found that she didn't even regret her offer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heellllooooooooo!!!! So what do you think? Idk i always kinda liked the idea of Nat and may being friends. I confused myself to at the clint/Loki part. Idk. ALSO ITS MY BIRTHDAY TOMMOROW IM HYPED. Anyway, have a good day you guys. Peace out. 
> 
> Also this chapter is named after my mental age


	5. Chapter 5

It was two days after the meeting with Loki and also the day that the radio was going to play their song. Everyone was there half an hour early, even Clint, and Bucky was pretty sure that Nat got there half an hour before her usual time. 

The morning slowly dragged on. They didn't know when their song would be playing, all Loki said was that Peggy would get a text five minutes before. They still kept the radio station on all morning, pop songs that had been digitally edited to much and singers that had no real talent came pouring into the studio all morning. Everyone rushed to see what it was when any phone buzzed, not just Peggy's. The excitement and restlessness in the air was like the feeling you got on your birthday when you were little, just before your birthday party started. 

It was almost two in the afternoon and they were yet to give up hope. All of a sudden, Peggy's phone pinged. She reached over for her phone and her eyes lit up when she saw the message. With a broad smile on her face, she read it out. "We are going to play your song on our radio in five minutes," she read, "I suggest you tune in."

It took the team a minute to fully comprehend that, and when they realise that their song was finally coming on, they cheered so loudly they drowned out whatever sad pop song was playing. Then they turned the radio up to max volume and waited. 

"And for our next song," said the radio presenter, who they all immediately recognized to be Thor Odinson, "is 'Gold' by the Avengers. This is their first time having their song on a major radio station like this, so good luck to you!" 

Then their song started playing. For the first verse, they pretty much sat in near silence, almost as if they weren't daring to believe that this was happening. Then Bucky started to sing along, and gradually, very one else did as well, even Peggy, who hardly ever sang along.

_'When everything, everything, everything you touch turns to gold, gold, gold,_

_Everything, everything, everything you touch turns to gold, gold,_

_Gold_

_Gold_

_Gold_

_Gold_ '

They were all shouting when they got to the last verse. Smiles were on everyone's faces and Bucky couldn't believe what just happened. Finally, the sound of the radio presenter's voice brought him back to earth.

"What a fantastic song from the Avengers!" He said cheerfully (though Bucky was pretty sure that he was always cheerful) "I know I said good luck, but you guys really didn't need it! Anyway, the next song is..."

Bucky was overjoyed. All that was left to do now was to watch as the downloads of their songs slowly, but surely, rise. Oh, and hope that Steve had heard it. Bucky presumed he would, he was always listening to that radio station.

\------

Steve sat in a coffee shop, working on a reply to an e-mail he'd got. It may not sound like a big task, but Steve had never been good at e-mails. He just couldn't figure out if you were meant to write it as formal as a letter or more to the style of texting. Or somewhere in between. They really should teach you how to write an email in school, he thought. 

All of a sudden, he heard Bucky's voice coming from somewhere behind him. He whipped around, but couldn't see him anywhere. Only then did he realize that his voice was coming from the speakers. Steve froze, sinking deeper and deeper into the tune and being swallowed by his astonishment that Bucky and Nat and Clint and Sam were actually on the radio! After the song had finished, he packed up his laptop as quickly as he could, leaving his half-drunken coffee on the table. He hopped in his car and began driving like a mad man to get to Bucky, but luckily the studio wasn't to far away.

After what felt like hours, though it was probably only minutes, Steve finally arrived at their studio and didn't even bother knocking, he just charged in. "OH MY GOD YOU GUYS WERE ON THE RADIO!" He ran Bucky, giving him a giant hug while Bucky looked suprised that Steve had so much force for someone his size. He ran around the rest of the group, giving out high-fives and laughing. 

"Oh my god, why didn't you tell me?" Steve finally said, "I was just sitting in the coffee shop and I heard you playing on the radio! I probably looked so awkward, now I think about it, but whatever! It's not everyday that you get to hear you friends play on radio!" He turned to Bucky, who was beaming, "You know, I actually thought that you were standing behind me for a second when you started to sing on the radio, it was really confusing." 

Bucky smirked at Steve's tendancy to ramble, but he didn't mind. In Bucky's opinion, it just made Steve a whole lot cuter. Nat caught him staring, and she gave him that look where she raised one eyebrow and mouthed 'we will talk about this later'. Scary, but Bucky could probably deal with it. Probably.

"We should've set up a video camera near you!" Clint said after Steve had finished, "Now I'd almost pay to see your reaction, it was probably hilarious!" Everyone nodded in agreement. Then they all started to talk in smaller groups, no one quite able to wipe the infectious grins off their faces. But it didn't matter. No one wanted to get rid of their smiles, not even Nat, who always seemed to smile the least.

At last they all agreed that they should go out and eat to celebrate. They started arguing on where to go, before Steve and Bucky said in unison, "We know this great Chinese place," 

"You''ll love it," Bucky added, glad to see that everybody agreed on Chinese, for once.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> helloooo beautiful peoples of ao3! Hope you enjoy in my story so far also thx for sticking around this far. Also if someone could tell auto correct to stop correcting my terrible grammer in this section that would be nice. Have a wonderful day you guys, you deserve it!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These chapter r so short... Now me would never
> 
> That's a lie now me would Without hesitation if I was bored.

Steve and Bucky met again in the coffee shop Steve liked a few days later. Steve went there sometimes to do his e-mails (the boring part of his job) and he was meant to be doing his emails, but Bucky was just so much more interesting. 

"So, Stevie," Bucky said, "me and the team are plannin' on doin' our first proper concert! Peggy says we have a lot more money to spend then we used to and we decided to spend it on gettin' a concert!"

"Oh my god, Buck, that's awesome! How much for a ticket?" Steve asked.

"Are you kidding me? You get free VIP seats and a back stage tour!" He joked (well he wasn't joking about the free seats).

"Where are you playing?" Steve said, interested. 

"Dunno yet," Bucky said thoughtfully, "Peggy said she was going to look into it tonight and text us when she found a place, so knowin' her, it's probably going to be booked by tomorrow!" 

Steve smiled at this until his computer pinged with yet another e-mail, which he clicked on dejectedly. Seriously? He thought, you couldn't've waited until I was less happy? Then he saw what the e-mail was about. 

"OH MY GOD, BUCKY!" He yelled, getting some weird looks from the other people in the cafe. He looked around, embarrassed, and continued with his sentance. "They want me to help out with some conception art for a movie! That's fucking awesome!" He said, not quite so loudly, as Bucky dramaticly faked a gasp at Steve swearing. "And the pay is like, double no..." Steve counted on his fingers, "triple what I get now!" Steve started to read out the e-mail, "'if you are interested in taking this job, please go to a meeting at some posh looking place where we will explain all the details..." He trailed off.

"Stevie, that sounds awesome!" Bucky said enthusiastically.

"Yeah, and its like an actual job, like I'm actually employed somewhere and have a boss and people paying me and stuff! Wow. Wow wow wow wow wow." Steve and Bucky laughed. 

"Seems like we both have big days tommorow." They laughed at themselves, and continued drinking their coffees, but with much bigger smiles on their faces then before.

\------

Bucky went into the studio the next day, where, surprise surprise, Nat was playing her drums. He had no idea where they would be playing yet, because Peggy had texted them that she had found a place but said she wanted it to be a surprise. So, to take his mind off his nervousness, he started writing down a melody and some lyrics to an idea for a song that he'd had last night when he randomly woke up at 4:30 am.

Everyone else in the band came in early, even Clint, who was never early, and sat around and waited for Peggy. She came in last, and looked suprised to see them all there already. She was on time, but if Bucky didn't know any better, he would've said she came in last to keep everyone in suspense.

"Get in the car," she announced as she walked in and put her things down, "we're going on a field trip!" 

Everyone scrambled to get out of the door, eager to get to where ever we were going as quickly as possible, but also at the same time everyone also wanted to be the first to the car so they could be shotgun. Well, Bucky did anyway. 

They all piled into Peggy's car (with Nat in the frount seat, she had beaten them, sadly) and she started driving through the Brooklyn traffic, which wasn't that bad now rush hour was practically over. They turned corner after corner, went down street after street, and just when Bucky thought the journey was never going to end, they finally arrived.

"I present to you," Peggy said proudly, "the Brooklyn Steel!" Everyone scrambled out of the car to look inside. This will be an awesome place for a first concert, Bucky thought.

They headed inside and Peggy walked confidently up to the receptionist, leaving the rest of the team behind her to take in the fact that they would be playing here. 

"Hello miss," she said politely to the receptionist, "I'm Peggy Carter and I believe that I booked a two hour practice session for a concert here yesterday."

The receptionist shuffled her papers infrount of her for a few seconds before nodding to Peggy. "Yes, it says you do. Follow me please." She got up from her desk and started to walk out of the reception and down some corridors. Peggy guestered hurriedly for the team to follow her, and they did. 

They got inside and everyone's jaws dropped. Apart from Peggy. She just smirked at them. "Thank you," she said to the receptionist, who walked out the door a few seconds later.

"What the fuck, this is awesome!" Bucky said finally as he looked around in awe. Nat had walked over to the stage, and Clint was trying to figure out how to get to the top viewing area, claiming he needed a better view. Bucky and Sam were just to overwhelmed to function.

"When're we playing?" Sam asked.

"Two weeks and two days, " Peggy informed them, "and we're putting out the tickets on Thursday!" She then held up her phone and snapped a picture of the place, which would no doubt be going on every social media account they owned later to advertise the tickets.

Nat climbed onto the stage. "Well what are you waiting for?" she shouted to us, "Boys, go and get your stuff, me and Peggy will figure out the sound system and stuff!" 

Bucky,Sam and Clint rushed back to the car to get their guitars and Bucky's microphone. They came back to find Nat and Peggy finishing plugging in the sound system, which they had done in record time. They put their guitars down next to the drums that Nat was sitting down at, probably already set up for whoever was playing tonight. 

"Lets go!" Nat yelled, and, not needing any further instructions, they started to play.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> woooooooooooo yay. Hi! Thanks if ur still reading this, I honestly dont know why u r. I'm sorry if I've got any part about the brooklyn steel or Brooklyn in general wrong, ive never been there in my life. Ive neverbeen to America in my life to be fair. Construcive criticism is welcome, thanks for reading!


	7. Chapter 7

Two days later, on Thursday, Nat went to pick Peter, who hadn't gotten any detentions that day, up from May's. As soon as she walked into their apartment in Queens, she was dragged straight back out the door by an overly exited Peter. She barely even had time to say hi to May.

They got into the car and started driving when Nat said, "So, Peter, our band is going to have a concert in two weeks. We're dropping the tickets today. Do you wanna help?" 

Peter's mouth dropped open in shock. "OH MY GOD! Of course I wanna help!" He yelled and Nat laughed at him. "This - this is, like, the best day ever! Who else is gonna be there?" 

"The rest of my band, who you are going to meet in a minute, and Peggy, out manager, she answered, "oh and Steve, who's Bucky's boyfriend, but they aren't officially dating yet so don't tell them I said that." She smirked. 

For the rest of the journey Nat was bombarded with questions and by the time they reached the studio Peter was practically jumping out of his seat in exitement. They walked in to find Bucky playing something on his keyboard that he brought in every now and then. He stopped playing the minute he saw Nat and Peter and went to introduce himself. 

"Hello, I'm Bucky Barnes," Bucky said to Peter as he shook his hand. 

"I'm Peter " Peter said shyly, "it's nice meeting you, Mr Barnes!"

"Please, just call me Bucky," he said. 

After the rest of the team introduced themselves, and Nat lead Peter over to her drum kit and started to teach Peter. For his first lesson, he was extremely good, better, maybe then she was when she first started learning.

\------

They were packing away when Steve came through the door. "Sorry I'm late!" He said "There was this big meeting at work that I forgot about, and it went on way to long."

"So," Peggy said, when everyone was sat down. "You guys ready to release these things?" 

"Hell yeah!" Sam yelled as they all crowded round Peggy's laptop. 

They started counting down. "Five, four, three, two, one, zero!" They all yelled together, and cheered extremely loudly when Peggy clicked the release button. The next two weeks were going to go by so slowly.

\------

The next day was Friday, and Bucky was outside Steve's new work, waiting to pick him up, seeing as Steve's car had broken down. He finally spotted Steve coming out of the building and walked quickly over to him. 

"For fucks sake Steve, why don't you have a coat?" Bucky said to a shivering Steve. "Here take this," Bucky handed Steve his jacket, which Steve took gratefully. They walked quickly towards the car, which Bucky had had to park half a block away because all the spaces near Steve's work were full. He was relieved when they finally got in the car, and let the warmth wash over him. 

"Guess what, Buck," Steve said, who had stopped shivering as much, "someone at work today was saying about your concert! They were sayin' they were goin'!" Bucky smiled, "I said I was goin' to, but I didn't say I knew you. That would kinda ruin the fun a bit."

Bucky smiled and they continued driving to Steve's apartment. When they got there Bucky promptly flopped down on the sofa and Steve squeezed in next to him. To try and distract himself from the fact that his brain was telling him to put his arm around Steve, he got out his phone to see how many concert tickets had been sold. It had only been 24 hours, roughly, so he didn't think that many would have been sold.

Bucky gasped out loud. "What is it Bucky?" Asked Steve, glancing over from the tv. 

"All the tickets have sold out," Bucky said in shock and Steve leaned over to see. 

"I'm actually not surprised, Buck," said Steve in a quiet voice, "your more famous then you think, of course people want to come to your concert." 

Bucky gave him a weird look, almost like he didn't believe him, except the evidence was right there infrount of him. After a while, he shrugged, and decided just to watch the tv with Steve.

Bucky wasn't entirely sure what the tv show was about, but he felt Steve snuggle closer to him at a particularly tense part. His heart skipped a beat. He doesn't know he's doing it, said the mean part of his brain, he doesn't really like you enough to do that willingly. Shut up he told it, and, for some odd reason that Bucky still didn't know, he decided to put his arm around Steve, bringing him closer. He just decided to live in the moment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really sorry that this chapter is so short. But anyway, whatever, who cares but me. Thanks for reading, have a good day (or night if ur like me and stay up really late reading fanfics)!


	8. Chapter 8

The day of the concert finally arrived and Bucky was filled with nerves. Sure, he was exited, but at that point in time he was freaking out a bit. Ok, a lot. 

"What if they hate me, Steve?" He said to Steve, who was curled up on Bucky's sofa. 

"Why would they hate you if they're going to your concert?" Steve replied.

"Yeah, but what if they see me and they're like, what a total loser! Or if they realize that they actually hate my singin'?" Bucky fretted infrount of the mirror, trying to make his hair perfect, even though he knew it would just end up being messed up again. 

"Buck," Steve said seriously, looking Bucky straight in the eye, "if they judge you just by what you look like, then their probably the arseholiest people, like, ever. And why does it matter what arseholes think of you? Who cares about them? And they are literally there to hear you sing, I know they won't be disappointed."

"You're the best, Stevie," said Bucky, his nervousness going down a bit. It was still there, however. "Come on, let's get goin'!" 

And with that they left Bucky's apartment and got into his car, and started their journey to the Brooklyn Steel. They got there and were suprised to discover a line already starting to form. They went round through the back door which would lead directly to the backstage area and Bucky was immediately found by Peggy. 

"Oh good, you're here," she said, "Bucky, please go and check that the microphone is set up right, and be quick about it, thank you." And she marched off, clearly busy. 

Steve walked with Bucky onto the stage, eager to see what the place looked like, having never been there before. They found Sam on stage as well, practicing last minute. He looked as nervous as Bucky felt. 

He had only just finished checking the microphone when he heard Peggy yell, "Come on boys, they let the people in in a minute, get backstage." Not needing to be told twice, they all carefully put their things down and headed off the stage. 

Once backstage, Bucky noticed two people who definitely weren't in the band or part of the place's staff. He said hi to Peter, who was practically on the ceiling he was so exited, and politely said hello to Clint's fiance, Laura, who he had only properly met twice before.

"We're letting them in!" Someone yelled, and the whole team rushed to the edge of the stage, hoping to get a glimpse of the people coming in. They were practically pouring in, and Bucky was shocked by how quickly the place filled up. How could they want to see him sing that badly. He looked over at everyone else, to see what they were feeling. Both Clint and Nat had triumphant grins on their faces, and Sam looked like he was about to puke. Bucky couldn't blame him. 

Almost to quickly, it was time for them to go on stage. The lights dimmed, which was their cue to head on, and Bucky felt anxiety surge through him. What if they hated him? What if they decided that he wasn't good enough? Shut up, he told that part of his head, and he ran onto stage. 

The white lights blinded him. His vision and hearing flashed momentarily, trying to cope with the drastic change in surroundings. Then he heard it. They were cheering. For him. For everyone else. With a surge of adrenaline, he stepped forward to the microphone that had been set out for him. 

"How're you all tonight?!" He shouted out to the crowd. He didn't expect a response, but he got one. Everyone in the crowd cheered. "It's amazin' seeing everyone here tonight! As you may, or may not know, I'm James,"

"I'm Nat,"

"I'm Sam," 

"And I'm Clint,"

"But I'm sure you're not here just to hear us talkin'." He continued. "What are we waiting for?" The crowd cheered again. And they launched into their first song, just like they had practiced.

' _Am I out of touch?_

_Am I out of my place?_

_When I keep saying that I'm looking for an empty space._

_Oh, I'm wishing you're here,_

_But I'm wishing you're gone,_

_I can't have you and I'm only gonna do you wrong._

_Oh, I'm going to mess this up,_

_Oh, this is just my luck,_

_Over and over and over again._

_I'm sorry for everything,_

_Oh, everything I've done._

_From the second that I was born it seems I had a loaded gun,_

_And then I shot, shot, shot a hole through everything I loved,_

_Oh, I shot, shot, shot a hole through every single thing that I loved._

Bucky smiled to himself at the crowd chanting along with him. How did this many people know the same song? Their song? He decided to let them take over for a verse.

_Am I out of luck?_

_Am I waiting to break?_

_When I keep saying that I'm looking for a way to escape._

_Oh, I'm wishing I had what I'd taken for granted,_

_I can't help you when I'm only gonna do you wrong._

It was magical. That was the only way to describe it. He played the rest of the song and then the evening seemed to rush by, and it was all to soon that he was thanking everyone for coming. 

The lights turned back on, and he went backstage, only to be tackled by a Steve, who was giving him a hug. 

"THAT WAS BRILLIANT!" He yelled, "when's the next one?" Bucky laughed.

"It sure was, that was the greatest thing ever I don't even know why I was worried!" They smiled and heard the rest of the team agreeing with them. His brain was telling him to kiss Steve, but he told his brain to shut up. Not here, not now, he thought to it. He wished he could kiss Steve. 

The night still didn't end for quite a few hours. Everyone's adrenaline was too high for them to go home and sleep. So they ended up staying for a few hours longer. Once they had all calmed down enough, they got into their cars and went home. But Bucky felt like he could never sleep, and even when he got home he was still wide awake. 

I am going to be so tired tommorow, he said to himself as he got into bed, but he really couldn't find it in himself to care.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> helloloolooooo! Finally something actually happened. Thanks to all u still reading! Thanks if u ever bothered clicking on this story. Also fun fact: if you try to toy in the word clints into this with auto correct on (and ur on a Samsung tablet) it turns it to clients! Almost shit myself laughing. Peace out.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh look shit actually happened

It was a few days after the concert and Bucky and Steve were wandering around the town centre, where all the shops and resturaunts tended to be. For the most part, they hadn't bought anything, although Steve was determined to get himself a new set of pencils. They talked happily as they walked the streets, which were filled with an early March sunshine that had melted the snow. It was almost as if the day was smiling at them. Bucky certainly was, as he walked the busy streets with Steve. He couldn't think of any place he'd rather be. 

"James!" Bucky twirled around when he heard someone calling his name from behind him, Steve looking around as well, curious to see who it was. Bucky was confused. No one called him James, apart from Peggy when she was really, really mad.

They finally caught sight of two teenage girls, probably around 15, that were calling his name. Bucky had never seen them a day in his life. "We were wondering if you could take a photo with us," one of the girls said shyly.

Bucky agreed, still confused, and smiled as the girls took a photo with him. They walked off, high giving each other and giggling. Bucky caught sight of Steve snickering at him and he walked back over to Steve, who the girls had both ignored.

"Shut up," Bucky said to Steve, who was using all of his will power to stop himself from laughing at Bucky.

"I told you you were famous," he said. "Look, there's a nice looking cafe over there, do you wanna stop for lunch?"

Bucky looked over to where Steve was pointing and agreed. The cafe looked warm and cheery, and Bucky could smell the fresh pastries and cakes even before they walked through the door. They ordered, Bucky trying to be healthy and get a croissant and Steve deciding he didn't care and getting a big slice of cake. 

"Steve, where do you put all that?" Bucky asked jokingly, gesturing at his nearly empty plate. "We barely even sat down!" 

Steve laughed at chatted with Bucky until Bucky had finished as well. "Hey Buck, you can play the piano, right?" 

"Yeah, but it's been a while since I played on an actual piano. Why?" 

Steve nodded to the back of the room, where a beautiful, mahogany grand piano stood. "It says anyone can use it."

"Steve, I'm not sure-"

"Oh come on Bucky, it'll be fun. Besides I wanna see you play." 

"Ok then." With that they headed over to the piano and Bucky sat down at the stool. There weren't many people in the cafe, because it was nearly two in the afternoon, and normal people don't have lunch at two I the afternoon. He sat down, his fingers fluttering over the keys for a minute, bringing the notes back into memory. Of course, Steve had never heard it before, it was new. 

A tune started to flow out of the piano and Bucky started singing.

_'I'm sorry mother,_

_I'm sorry I bring you down,_

_Well these days I'm fine,_

_No, these days I tend to lie._

_I'll take the western train, just by the side of Amsterdam,_

_Just by my left brain, just by the side of the tin man._

_I'm sorry brother,_

_I'm sorry I let you down,_

_Well these days you're fine,_

_No, these days you tend to lie._

_You'll take the western train, just by the side of Amsterdam,_

_Just by you're left brain, just by the side of the tin man._

_Your time will come,_

_if you wait for it, if you wait for it,_

_Its hard, believe me, I've tried,_

_But I keep coming up short.'_

Steve watched, mesmirised as Bucky played the piano. He looked beautiful. All the worry Steve hardly even noticed was there was gone from his face, and he just looked so peaceful. Steve wished he could pause this moment and just stay in it forever.

Of course, the song had to come to an end at some point, and Steve tried not to be to disappointed. Of course, when Bucky stopped Steve gave him a huge round of applause, along with the few other people who were sat in the cafe. Bucky went pink from seeing how many people were watching him, but smiled all the same. He and Steve walked out the cafe and back into the sunshiney March day.

They walked for a while and found themselves in a park, were the spring buds were just starting to peek through. Steve and Bucky eventually came and sat down on a bench, underneath a blossoming tree.

"Look at the blossoms, Buck," Steve said, looking around at the trees in amazement. "Aren't they just beautiful?" 

Bucky tried to look at the trees, but it was hard to tear his gaze away from Steve, who just looked to cute with the blossoms behind him. "Yeah, but they aren't as beautiful as you, Stevie." 

Steve went bright pink and looked at Bucky , who looked was looking around at the blossoms again. Had he really just said that?

"Hey, Buck," said Steve. Bucky turned his head towards Steve.

"Ye-" he barely even got a chance to speak before Steve slammed his lips into Bucky's. For a moment, it was pure bliss. Just them, the park and the blossoms, existing in their own little bubble of joy. Bucky curled his arms around Steve's waist, and smiled against the other boys lips. All to soon, Steve pulled back and opened his eyes. Bucky wished that they could stay this close all day, he would never get bored of Steve's eyes. Never. 

"I'm so sorry, Buck," Steve said, a shocked expression forming on his face. "I'll just go." 

He got up and walked off. "Steve!" Bucky called after him, "Wait!" 

But it was to late, Steve was already to far away to hear Bucky, and Bucky was left alone on the bench, surrounded by blossoms that didn't look so cheerful anymore. The shock and realization of what just happened finally caught up to him, and he realized that he had not only kissed Steve, but Steve had left him straight afterwards. _If only you had been quicker_ , his brain told him, _he wouldn't've gone and he'd still be here._

_If only._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WWHATTTTSSS UUUPPPP!?!?!? You guys have no guys how long I've been waiting to write this chapter. It was even epicer then i thought it would be. Favourite chapter I've written so far. Please don't hate me tho. Or do hate me, that would be funny. Hope you have a good time. Thanks for reading. Peace out fuckers.


	10. Chapter 10

Bucky was glad it was Saturday. He could go home and mope all he liked and no one would question it. He sat on the sofa, scrolling through the channels and wrapping himself in a blanket, searching for a distraction that didn't remind him of Steve. 

It got dark early in March, and, with no better thing to do, Bucky headed out hoping that the fresh air would do him some good. He put on his jacket, which he probably hadn't worn since last March, walked out of the apartment into the cool evening.

Bucky tried not to think about what had happened that day, and instead kept himself focused on where he was, and where he was going, until Bucky realized that he didn't have a clue where he was going. He absentmindedly shoved his hands in his pockets and felt something in there. A packet. He pulled it out and was both pleased and horrified to find a half used packet of cigarettes in there. 

Bucky didn't smoke. At least, not anymore. He had for a few months, when he came back from the army and was struggling to cope as he got used to what life would be like now. When he made the avengers and met Peggy, she got rid of them and she got rid of them fast. Bucky didn't regret letting her take them away. When he had Steve, there was alot more reasons for him to not smoke, with Steve's asthma. 

But there wasn't Steve anymore. And if he had one, just one, the team would never need to know. They would never need to know. Against all his better judgement, he pulled one out of his pocket and lit it. He blew the smoke into the air and he felt a bit of relief come with it. At least now, he could imagine that Steve was the smoke and he was blowing it out of him, into the air and letting go.

When he was done, he walked home, feeling relieved, but at the same time still ashamed. You promised never to use those again, his brain said as he walked throughout his door. You promised. Suddenly he was overwhelmed by guilt, and just sat down on the sofa and pulled his blanket around himself. Maybe if he closed his eyes hard enough, he would be able to imagine that the blanket was his sister, Rebecca, hugging him and telling him it would all be ok, like she had done so many times before. 

He opened his eyes and reality came flying back to him, hitting him like a cannonball. He had no Becca, he had no Steve, and he had just broke his promise and let all of his friends down. He had no one. Not now. 

Tears were streaming silently down his face now, and all he could think of was everyone he had lost. And its all your fault, his brain said, you have no Steve, you have no friends, and its all your fault. You're a useless human. Hell, you couldn't even save your own sister. 

The tears were coming down in streams now, and Bucky searched for some desperate hope that everything would be ok. He couldn't find any, and at last he gave in to the voice in his head and curled in on himself. He lay there on the sofa, not even bothering to get a shower or change his clothes. He just lay there until he fell asleep, crying all the while. 

\------

The next day Bucky forced himself to get up. He forced himself to have a shower and get dressed and he forced himself to eat breakfast and behave like a normal human being. He acted like if he just pretended everything was fine, everything was normal, it would be. He forced himself to go round to Peggy's house, like they always did on a Sunday, just so he could pretend that he was ok.

He got there, and was unusually quiet, which is something that they all picked up on but didn't mention it. Bucky just sat there, listening to everyone else speak, but not daring to do the same.

Eventually, Nat plucked up the courage to ask him. "Hey Bucky, do you mind coming with me?" She asked, and lead Bucky into Peggy's spare room.

"It's Steve isn't, it," she said at last. Bucky just nodded carefully. 

"He hates me. He hates me and it's all my fault." 

"What happened? If you don't mind me asking."

Bucky smiled slightly at his friend's concern. "He kissed me."

"Really?!" Nat exclaimed excitedly, "Then why are you sad?"

"He walked off straight after. If only I had been quicker, and told him not to go earlier, it would all be ok."

Nat sat there with a slightly shocked face for a minute. "You know what, Buck, I bet Steve's out there, blaming himself to. I bet he feels as bad as you do. I don't know what's going to happen, but I can promise you its going to be alright. Whether you see Steve again or not, it's all going to be alright. Because yes, the universe has been mean to you, in so many ways other then Steve, but it also likes to balance things out. Because it's being especially mean to you now, its going to be nice to you later. But you can't keep blaming yourself. It's not your fault Bucky, and it's all going to be alright."

Bucky was awestruck by the amount of compassion he had received from his friend, and he felt a lump forming in his throat. He was not going to cry. Not now. So he choked it down, and gave Natasha a hug, clinging onto her like the world was going to end if he let go.

"Thank you," he responded, "Thank you so, so much." Nat patted his back and he pulled away. He felt somewhat reassured, and definately a lot better then earlier. He still had the guilt at the back of his head, but he was able to push that to the side and he and Nat went to join the others, and this time Bucky fell easily into the conversation. He could still feel her looking over at him, concerned every now and then, and he smiled back, letting her know he was fine. Thank god, thought Bucky, the positive part of his brain working for the first time since Steve left him, thank god I have such amazing friends. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> what's uuuupppp!?!!!!!!! Look at this, were on double digits for chapter numbers! How did I actually get this far. This was only ment to take up half a chapter but it took up a whole one. Some how. Hope you enjoyed (well not really, I hope you died on the inside a little, not to be mean) and have fun! Good bye!


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Past me really didn't like writing angst wow

Over the next few days, Steve forced himself into a routine, and when he was at home he buried himself so deep into his work he didn't have time to think. He woke up early and stayed awake late into the night so as soon as he lay down he was asleep and so he didn't have to think. Of course, this often left him very tired in the mornings, but it was nothing a bit (or a lot) of coffee couldn't get him through. 

Because if he did think, he would think about Bucky, and how stupid he was for kissing him like that and how Bucky probably hated him.

He was walking home from work, because his car was still broken. He looked, up feeling something was off, and he was right. He saw a man, a big, buff guy who looked like he had a bit to much of an ego, and a young woman who was hurriedly walking away from him. He was following her and he could see that she was trying her best to get away from him without being to rude. 

Suddenly, the man reached out and grabbed her waist. Steve heard her yell at him to get off of her and decided that he couldn't just watch. He made his way over to the man, and tried to bring himself up to his full hight, but he wasn't very tall.

"She said leave her alone," he said to the guy, who looked around at him quickly, snickering when he saw Steve's hight. "Are you deaf as well as stupid?" The man turned around to face him fully now, his hands sliding off the woman's waist. Steve gestured for her to run, and she did so without any hesitation. 

"And what're you gonna do abou' it?" He asked, smirking. Then he looked around, realizing the girl was gone. "You lost me my girl!" He yelled, and drew back his fist. He threw a punch at Steve, who just about dodged it and stepped back wards into the alley behind him. The man threw another punch, and this time Steve wasn't so lucky. It hit him square in the face and he heard a sickening crunch coming from his nose. Steve tried to throw a punch back, but the man blocked it easily and gave him a kick in the stomach that sent him flying to the end of the alleyway. Disoriented, Steve tried to stand back up, and throw another punch, which failed yet again. 

"Ya don' give up, do ya?" The man said, laughing at him at this point.

"I could do this all day," Steve replied, before the man punched him one final time and Steve fell, to the ground. The world around him started to go dark, and Steve felt the man kicking again for good measure, before he passed out.

\------

Bucky was walking to the coffee shop that was down the road from his apartment and heard someone groaning from the alleyway. Curious, and also wanting to help, Bucky made his way down the alleyway and saw a small figure lying on the ground. He got closer and bent over his face to see who it was. 

"Steve?" Bucky gasped, shocked, but the only response he got was a groan. "Oh my god, Steve, we need to get you home." With that Bucky picked up Steve and slung him over his shoulders in a fireman's carry. He rushed home as quickly as possible and lay Steve down on his couch, rushing to get the first aid kit to clean any wounds he could see.

\------

When Steve woke up, he was suprised to find himself laying on a couch instead of the dirty alley he passed out in. He tried to sit up and look around but as soon as he tried to do more then lie down, he got dizzy and his head hurt. He heard someone come throughout the door and tried to look over to see who it was, but failed. 

"Thank god, you're awake," said the person and Steve froze. It was Bucky. Bucky hated him, didn't he? Why would Bucky find him and decide to help him? "You got quite a beating, Steve, thank god I found you." Bucky tried to help Steve to sit up, and he eventually got him settled on the couch. "You got a minor concussion, I think, and a fractured nose, not to mention that great big cut on your stomach. But you'll live." Bucky sat down next to him, handing him a bowl of soup. "Eat this, it'll help."

Steve took the bowl gratefully and looked down. He sat in silense for a few minutes, every now and then eating spoonfuls of his soup.

"I'm sorry, Buck," he eventually managed to say, his voice quiet and timid.

"Well ya should be, you gave me the scare of my life, findin' you in an alley like that. Don't ever do again. Please." 

"No not that," Steve replied quietly, "for the other day, at the park. You probably hate me. You know what, I'll just go."

Bucky's face softened, and he grabbed Steve's wrist pulling him back. It's not like Steve would've had the ability to walk yet anyway. "You have nothing to be sorry for," he said and pulled steve tightly into a hug. Steve let himself relax at last, melting into the hug and putting his arms around Bucky's big, warm chest. He buried his face in Bucky's chest, whispering how he was sorry over and over again, while tears streamed down his face. Bucky rubbed circles down his back, avoiding any bruises or cuts he knew about. 

"It's gonna be ok, Stevie, its gonna be ok." Bucky whispered, hugged him tighter. Steve clung to Bucky like he was all he had left, and just cried. Bucky was silent for a while, trying not to let Steve see the silent tears that were now running down his own face. 

Once Steve's crying had died down a bit, Bucky arranged his face, hoping it wasn't to red from crying, and pulled back, cupping Steve's face with his hands. 

"Don't worry, Stevie, " said Bucky gentally, placing his for head on Steve,"I'm with you til the end of the line."

"Til the end of the line."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> helleoooo !!!!! Look, i was a semi decent person in this chapter!!! Anyway, because a stucky au would be horrible without any stucky, they are together again. What did you expect? Anyway, bye bye! I need sleep!


	12. Chapter 12

The next day, Steve was feeling much better, although Bucky refused to let him go into work. The night's sleep had done him a lot of good, even if it meant that Bucky had had to sleep on the sofa to let Steve have the bed. 

Steve shuffled into the lounge, blankets still wrapped around him and plopped himself down on the couch next to Bucky. Bucky handed him a plate of toast that he had gotten ready which Steve nibbled contently.

"How are you feeling?" Asked Bucky when he saw Steve. 

"A lot better," Steve admitted and continued eating his toast.

"I called in to your work to say you were taking a sick day, you weren't doing anything major, right?" 

Steve shook his head, his mouth to full of food to answer. Bucky switched on the tv and began surfing through channels. They sat together in silence. A comfortable silence. A sort of silence that you never want to leave.

"Hey, Bucky," said Steve, looking away from the program. "Can I do something?"

Bucky looked confused for a second, "Yeah, sure," he answered, "but wha-"

Steve cut him off, yet again, by kissing him full on the lips. Bucky's body failed for a second, from shock, suprise, and a genarally freaking out. Steve pulled away much to soon, and Bucky wished he wouldn't. 

"I-I'm sorr- " Steve stammered, except he didn't have time to fully apologize before Bucky kissed him again. This time, both Steve and Bucky melted into the kiss. Bucky ran his hand through Steve's soft, blond hair, and decided that he needed to appreciate this moment. Their moment. The moment that both of them wished would last forever, just spent sharing a sweet kiss. Bucky felt Steve cling closer to his body, and felt the warmth of the other man as well. When they pulled away, at last, they hardly moved, and they both giggled like a couple of teenagers. 

Bucky planted one more kiss on Steve's for head before getting up to wash the dishes, and Steve felt himself wishing that Bucky's warmth would come back. Steve was delighted when Bucky walked back in and squeazed in on the couch next to him. Steve cuddled up into him, placing his head on Bucky's chest, listening to the rythmic beat of his heart. He could feel Bucky running his hands through his hair, making tiny, little braids and plaits. 

And that's where they spent the rest of the morning, curled around each other, limbs gradually getting more tangled together. And they both loved it.

\------

They spent the rest of the day lounging around the house, apart from when Bucky popped out to Steve's hours to get him some fresh clothes (the ones he was in were starting to smell). Bucky decided that Steve should have an early night that night, to 'let himself heal' and Steve was in no condition to protest. 

Steve had been laying in bed for a good 15 minutes now, and still couldn't get to sleep. He was relieved when he saw Bucky poke his head through the door to check up on him. 

"You still awake, Stevie?" Bucky said in a gentle voice, walking over to Steve's bed.

"Yeah." 

"Okay then. Goodnight, don't let the bed bugs bite." Bucky whispered back to him, and turned to leave again. 

"Buck?" Steve asked from the bed. "Please stay." 

Bucky turned back around and walked straight back over to Steve. "You don't have to tell me twice, that sofa was uncomfortable as hell."

Steve laughed and snuggled into Bucky's chest, feeling comforted when he felt Bucky wrap his arms around him. He cherished the other man's warmth, and they were both asleep within minutes. 

\------

The next day was Thursday, and while Steve was still not well enough to go into work, Bucky couldn't take the day off again. Steve eventually decided to go with Bucky to work, curled up on the sofa, watching as the others worked around him, occasionally talking to one of them. But Bucky was always near by. He sat on one of the other couches or on the same couch as Steve when he wasn't talking to everyone else. And Steve loved it. Steve loved the look he had in his eyes when he was completely focused on his work, or the calmness of his face when he listened to the other's songs. 

The day flew by and Steve was suprised when Nat announced that she was going to pick up Peter. He liked the young boy, and admired Nat for having the mental stability to be able to teach Peter, because sometimes that boy was just so hyper he wondered how many espressos he would need to get himself up to that level of being awake.

After about half a hour, Nat returned with an extremely exited Peter, who rushed over to the drums and was ready to start in two seconds flat. Steve laughed to himself at this. 

"Hey doll," he heard Bucky say from behind him, "I made you a hot chocolate." Bucky kissed him on the forehead and handed him the warm drink. 

"Thanks," Steve replied. He then realised that the room had gone silent. Peter wasn't even playing the drums. He looked up, mortified, and saw everyone staring at him and Bucky.

"So," said Sam, "let's hear it for the happy couple!" 

Everyone around the room started to applause, and Steve felt his face go bright red, although it wasn't very long until he was laughing along with the rest of them. The noise finally died down, and Nat asked, "So how long has this been going on?" 

"Since, like, yesterday." Bucky said, and they all smiled. 

"Clint, you owe me five dollars!" Nat yelled across the room at Clint, which only made everyone laugh harder. 

"But, seriously," Sam said at last. "We're happy for you guys."

"And not just for betting reasons," Peggy butted in, glaring at Clint and Nat. "Do you guys want to do something on Sunday, like go out to eat instead of just going round to mine. Hey, Peter, do you want come to?" 

"Yeah!" Peter yelled, "Thanks Miss Carter!" Steve smiled at the kid's enthusiasm. That would be something to look forward to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> what is uuuupppp you wonderful people who actuAlly have the ability to put up with my awful writing. You guys have skill. Thanks thanks thaskjcajhcndmzkxjkskx for reading constructive criticism is good, goodnight.


	13. Chapter 13

Sunday rolled around pretty quickly, and Bucky was exited to get food. Because food. But also, maybe, friends. He grabbed a baseball cap and walked out of his door, into the cool march air and then into his car. He drove to the Italian cafe where they had all agreed to meet and walked in, not suprised to see Peggy, Nat, Peter and Steve already there. 

"Hey guys!" He said happily to them, getting a chorus of heys back. He sat down in the chair next to Steve and kissed him on the cheek. They all started chatting absent mindedly and not soon after, Sam and Clint came in. They ordered their meals and drinks and continued their conversations.

"Hey," Peter blurted suddenly, "do you know you guys have fan accounts. On, like, Twitter and Instagram and things." 

"What?" Bucky said, suprised. He and his other three teammates all pulled out their phones, logging into the cafe's free WiFi and going on the first social media app they saw. Peggy was watching them, sipping her drink and clearly trying not to laugh. 

"Oh my god, we do!" Sam yelled in exitement. 

"What the hell, some of this stuff is crazy!" Clint exclaimed, and Nat leaned over to look at his phone and snorted. 

Bucky scrolled through instagram, Steve curiously peering over his shoulder. "Hey, this is a post of all of us," Bucky said, trying to keep the smile off his face, "and the caption says that we all look hot!" Everyone laughed, including Bucky, "I'm gonna comment and say thanks!" 

There was a short period of quiet while they all scrolled through their phones, but the chatter quickly started up again when the waiter brought their food. 

"Nat," Peggy said, "why on earth did you order spaghetti with squid in. That's disgusting" 

Nat smirked at her, and probably would have come up with some snarky answer if her mouth hadn't been stuffed with pasta and seafood. Bucky had ordered a giant pizza, the one that was supposedly the best in the shop, and he wasn't disappointed. At the rate he was eating it, he'd order another one just because. 

Nat finally finished her mouthful and pretty much ignored Peggy. "We should make fake fan accounts" she said, causing everyone to look confused, apart from Clint, who seemed to get the idea. It was lucky he understood, because after she said that she stuffed her mouth with food again and probably wouldn't be able to talk for a few minutes. 

"So we can make friends with them, but have them thinking that we're one of them." Clint explained, and everyone nodded, understanding now. 

"And then be dramatic and video call them!" Nat finished, he mouth full of food. 

Bucky grabbed his phone and went back onto instagram, which was the only social media he properly knew how to work, he wasn't very good with most technology.

" I'm gonna make one too!" Steve announced, "but only to get into funny arguments over fan theories and things like that." Everyone laughed and continued making their accounts, and then proceeding to follow everyone who also appeared to have a fan account. Bucky then proceded to take a selfie with everyone else, post it on his own personal account and then immediately post it on his new one. He needed it to look genuine. 

He tried to start conversations with people, but he found out that they weren't going to reply any time soon, so he put his phone down and ordered dessert. 

Dessert came, and it was probably some of the best ice cream Bucky had ever tasted. He made a mental note to come back here, even if it was just for the ice cream. 

"So, I've been meaning to tell you," started Peggy, a glimmer in her eyes, "I was sorting through all the new songs that you've written, and it is enough to have another album." Everyone either gasped or cheered, or both, at the news and high fived each other. Once the noise died down, Peggy continued speaking. "I have booked a recording studio for four days next week, which is enough time to record and edit the ones we have not recorded already. The next week will probably be full of last minute editing and other things. The album will hopefully be ready to release at this time in two weeks."

"Can I do the art?" Steve asked.

"Wouldn't have it any other way," Peggy replied.

Everyone was ecstatic. They cheered and whooped and chatted about the new exiting news and honestly, couldn't wait to get going, even though they knew it was going to be busy. 

\------

Peter walked into school the next day, still bubbling with exitement from the day before. Nat had said he could release the album with them too! He made his way to his locker and opened it. He heard his best friend, Ned, come up behind him, and turned around to say hi. 

"Oh my god, dude!" Ned exlaimed before Peter got the chance to speak, "You were with the avengers!" 

Peter laughed. "Yep I was. We had lunch out. The cafe was nice, great ice cream."

"But, dude, you met the avengers!"

"I know. Nat's giving me drumming lessons and they invited me along."

"Natasha Romanoff is giving you drumming lessons!"

"Yeah."

"When you said May's friend was giving you lessons I just though it was some random drummer. You never said it was Natasha Romanoff!" 

"You never asked."

They walked down the corridor, towards their lesson, Ned still freaking out a little bit, but he had goten over it a bit now. However, when they turned the corner and saw Flash, the school's 'popular' kid, their mood dropped instantly.

"Hey guys, look it's penis Parker!" He called out at them, cause in all the people crowded around him to snicker. "The celebrity! How much did you have to pay the avengers for them to let you sit with them?" He said, a cruel smile on his face.

"Come on, Peter," Ned whispered, pulling Peter's arm to get him to leave. Peter quickly followed. 

"Look, he's running away!" Everyone laughed at him. "Not so brave now, are you?" 

Flash continued throwing insults at him, but luckily they were now to far away to hear. Guess we'll just have to go the long way to class he thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heellllooojdlsdjhdxxnzjlaljsgfgh hi. Idek. Whatever. Thanks for reading! Go to sleep if its past midnight please! Peace out.
> 
> Also, fun fact: if you write swear words with a Samsung keyboard (like I am now) auto correct makes, for examlpe, fuck into duck, arse into arise, and others. BUT Apple keyboards litteraly suggest swear words to you in predictive text.


	14. Chapter 14

The week was not just busy. It was so busy that whenever Bucky had any time to breath, which wasn't often, he was whizzed right back to work again by Peggy. By Friday everyone was exhausted, having spent double the amount of time then normal recording, and everyone was starting to feel the strain, and if not, then they'd already started feeling it a long time ago. 

Bucky was relieved when it got to the weekend. He could put his feet up, rest, maybe spend some time with Steve, but not go out anywhere. He wasn't going out anywhere this weekend. Not even to Peggy's, but then again, he didn't think anyone was. 

He immidiately flopped down on the sofa when he got home, decided he needed a shower, and had one. When he returned back to the living room, in comfy pajamas and slippers, he immidiately picked up his phone to call the pizza place. There was no way he was doing anything tonight.

He picked up his phone whilst he was waiting for the pizza to arrive, and started absent mindedly scrolling through his instagram. Soon he changed to his fake account, which he always found funny. He liked to see his world from a different angle, and being on instagram did just that, but in a hilarious way. He started talking to a girl who he had met through his fan account, who was probably 16 and lived somewhere in Louisiana.That's all he knew. She was nice, and a lot easier to talk to then most of the other people he'd tried to message. Probably because she was on instagram 24/7. She also had no idea who he was, so that was fun.

Steve came round on Sunday afternoon, after Bucky had mostly recovered from the week, but still insisted on laying on the sofa together and doing nothing. Steve had no problem with this, and was curled up next to Bucky. They sat in a comfortable silence, each one of them scrolling through their phones. Bucky was looking at apartments for sale in Brooklyn, because, although he liked the apartment he was in very much, he could get a much better one, and with the huge amount of pay he expected he'd get from the album release, he would definately be able to afford one. 

"Hey look at this one, Stevie," Bucky said, handing Steve his phone. It looked nice from the outside, and it had a huge driveway. It seemed to be in a nice enough neighbourhood, and wasn't to far from the studio or the shops. Probably closer then his was now. 

"755 Sackman Street," Stevie read, "it looks good, you should e-mail the people about it." Bucky nodded in agreement and started typing. 

Steve was on his fake account, which he loved, and was currently arguing with someone about Bucky. That sounded creepy. Anyway, this person had commented, 'omg look guys its my boyfriend' on someone's post of Bucky, and he argued back saying 'no he's mine'. Anyway, they he'd been arguing back and forth for a while now, asking things like: have you even met him in real life? Or, did you go to his concert? To prove that she had seen him, the other girl sent him a picture she had took, with her, her friend, and Bucky in. Steve quickly realized that it was one of the girls that had come up him and Bucky on that day when they went to the cafe with the piano in. 

"Hey Buck," Steve said softly, "can I take a selfie with you real quick, this girl refuses to beleive that you're my boyfriend." Bucky laughed.

"Of course, doll, cant have anyone not believing you," he said and sat up into a better position that would be easier to take a selfie in. Steve held up his phone and they both smiled, and then Steve decided to take another one, just in case. Just before he clicked the photo button on his phone again, Bucky turned his head and kissed him on the cheek, Steve accidentally capturing the exact moment when he kissed him, Steve going bright red and blushing. 

"Send that to her, that's proof," he laughed at Steve's flustered, blushing face, causing Steve to go even more pink. 

Steve sent the first selfie, which, of course, she thought was a fake. She was getting more and more annoyed, refusing to believe that Steve was actually with Bucky, although Steve had plenty of evidence. At last, she face-called him, which he answered immidiately. 

"Hello!" Steve said cheerfully as the screen crackled to life, as if the girl hadn't been insulting him and his boyfriend the whole time.

"Ha!" She said, and Steve gave her a confused look, "you're such a liar, you're sat at home on your couch. Wow, I can't believe you," she ranted to the screen, all while Steve just gave her a small smile. She then proceded to call him a lot of unsatisfactory names that I'm not going to repeat.

"This isn't my couch," steve said back at last, once the girl had finished her name-calling session. 

"I don't give a damn about who's couch it is," she said back to him, "you're just a lyin-" 

"This is really funny," Bucky butted in, leaning over to Steve so he was in the camera too, "but could you please stop calling my boyfriend here a liar."

The look of utter shock and disbelief on the girls face was priceless. She tried to speak, but she just stuttered over her words so much she gave up and settled for looking at them in complete bewilderment. At last, when she got over it slightly, she asked, "What?" 

"This is my boyfriend," Steve replied, smugly, "I won the argument." 

"No," she said, still in denial, "absolutely not, I don't believe you." 

"Well let me prove it to you," said Bucky, who, up until then, had just been watching the girl and Steve in amusement. Bucky then went and kissed him on the cheek, the sort of thing that Steve had gotten used to by now, but clearly the girl hadn't. She just stared in shock at her phone screen, like all her worst nightmares had just come true. After about a minute of this, she quickly clicked the hang up button, and the second she did Steve and Bucky burst out laughing. 

"Oh my god, her face was awesome!" Steve laughed and Bucky just rolled his eyes and continued laughing. He was glad that her story was so unbelievable, he didn't really want to be out to the public yet, and no one would believe her!

Once they had calmed down a little bit, Bucky edged his way back over to Steve and cuddled the smaller man into him. "That was brilliant," he breathed, staring down at Steve's smiling face. Steve stared right back, trying to capture the moment in his mind, taking all the time he could to try and memorize all of Bucky's features, the exact angle of his jaw right down to the colour of blue in his eyes. God, this man is beautiful, he thought to himself. 

He was caught by suprise when Bucky kissed him straight on the lips, but definately pleased. When they pulled away, although Steve didn't want to, he curled himself into Bucky's chest, listening to the rhythmic beat of his heart.

Those kisses were something he would never get used to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whats uuuuuppppp!!!! Holy shit, this was only meant to be a filler chapter and its my longest one yet. I dont regret it though. Course I don't. Anyway, shout out to Oxford online dictionary for helping me cos I couldn't be bothered to get out of bed to get a proper dictionary. Anyway, thanks for reading!!!!! See ya!!!!!


	15. Chapter 15

"So what can we do for you today?" Bucky said jokingly as Steve walked into their studio once again to help with the cover art. He strolled up to Bucky, trying to look important and bringing himself up to his full hight (which wasn't very tall).

"I'm Steven Rogers," he joked back, changing his voice to try and make himself sound more posh and respectable, "and I have come with important business." Steve tried to stay serious for a few moments longer, but eventually they both just dropped the act and broke out it a fit of laughter. "Hi guys!" Steve shouted at the rest of the team as they both walked over to where everyone else was sitting, waiting for Steve and they said hi happily, but tiredly, back. 

"So what are we thinking for today?" Steve smiled and got a few smiles back. After a few people hesitantly replying, they all started to become more comfortable in the situation and started putting more and more ideas forward. After a few minutes, ideas were coming at Steve at such a rapid speed he had to decide which one maybe he shouldn't use and which ones he should. Once it had died down a bit, he told them about how to combine everyone's ideas together and, after a few alterations, everyone was satisfied with how it would hopefully turn out. 

So then Steve got to work, leaving all the others to do their editing or whatever computery stuff they needed to do. 

Steve liked how it felt in the studio. He always had, but he was only just beginning to realise it. It was like a work place, it was set up as one, it practically was one, and had the comforting hustle and bustle of one, where everyone had something they needed to do. But it wasn't really like a workplace, or an office. The feel of the room was just to welcoming, and although no one spoke much, the room still had a feeling of friendliness, and not the polite 'work' kind of friendliness, where everyone just says hi or small talks for a few minutes before going back to their separate tasks. It was as if the entire room was connected, even when no one was asking the others what they thought of that part of the song or someone was making coffee for everyone. And it was the type of place Steve loved.

\------

They day of the release seemed to come to slowly. The week almost seemed to drag on, wearing Bucky down. But, at last, it was the weekend, and Bucky was getting increasingly exited as the hours ticked by. Normally, on a Sunday, everyone would arrive at Peggy's house around 12:30. Today everyone came at 11 o'clock, and the album wasn't even going to be released until 3 that afternoon. As the afternoon went on, the excitement in the room gradually increased, so when it was roughly 2 o'clock, and Nat announced that she would be going to get Peter , everyone was practically jumping out of their seats. 

When Nat got back with Peter, they all crowded round Clint's phone and he took a picture with them, his arm around his fiance, Laura, who wouldn't miss this day for anything. As he snapped a photo, probably to post to his social media with the caption 'only half an hour until the album release!!' with a bunch of emojis, Bucky found that his smile wasn't fake, or staged, like it was in a lot of selfies. He was genuinely having a good time, and from the happiness radiating out of everyone else's face, he pressumed they were too. 

Bucky made his way over to Steve, who he could see was talking to Peter, and grabbed Steve's hand as he joined the conversation. Steve gave it a gental squeeze and he continued his conversation with Peter. 

"We've got to meet these friends of yours!" Steve said excitedly to Peter, who also seemed excited , even more excited then normal, and with Peter being Peter, that was a lot. "Their names are Ned and Michelle, right? You should invite them to the studio with you one Thursday!" 

Bucky smiled and said, "You can't just go around inviting people that you don't even know to the studio like that Stevie, it's not even yours!" Steve looked down and Peter looked slightly disappointed. "But sure they can come, the more the merrier!" Peter brightened up again at this and they continued their conversation happily.

A while later Peggy yelled, "Only two minutes until three! Get over here!" Everyone exitedly made their way over to the computer where Peggy was, where they could see a screen with their album on and the words 'release' written in the top right hand corner. The mouse hovered by it, and when Peggy was sure it was exactly one minute until three, she pulled up a timer next to it and they started counting down with it as soon as it got to 30 seconds. 

"TEN.... NINE... EIGHT... SEVEN... SIX... FIVE... FOUR... THREE... TWO...ONE...ZERO!" They all yelled (apart from Peter who had yelled 'blast off' instead of zero) and when they got to zero, Peggy pressed the release button, and they were all cheering and celebrating for at least three minutes straight. Bucky caught sight of Laura kissing Clint in celebration, and as soon as he had seen them, he felt Steve coming up to him and pushing his face into Bucky's, excitedly kissing him. However, because their were people around and they didn't want to be weird, the kiss didn't last longer then three seconds, but after Steve held on for a few moments longer, wrapping his arms around Bucky's waist.

"Well done, jerk," he whispered in Bucky's ear.

"Thanks, punk," Bucky whispered back and they let go of each other.

"Is it to early to get out the alcohol?" He heard Sam, who was holding a bottle of something-or-other, yell from the other side of the room, and ever one cheered in agreement, walking over to Sam to get a drink.

Bucky took a sip of his drink, and sat himself on the couch next to Steve, who didn't like drinking and didn't have a glass, and put his arm around his boyfriend. 

"So," Bucky said, "best day ever or what?" 

"Best day ever!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> whatever uuuuppp!! The pic at the top is the night visions cover and I hope you enjoyeddddd!!! Khzdgdkacjakkggkdl thanks 4 reading!!!!


	16. Chapter 16

Thursdays had officially become the day where everyone visited the studio. Steve came after work, seeing as he ended slightly earlier on Thursdays, and it was also the day Peter came round. Sometimes even Laura came round on a Thursday if she could. 

Today was a Thursday and Peter was going to be here soon, and, at Steve's suggestion, had invited his friends Ned and MJ to come with him. At that moment, a 16 year old guy, who Bucky pressumed was Ned, came hurtling through the door at top speed, almost as fast as Peter did on his first day. Peter followed him, and Nat and a girl who was probably MJ following them. Nat was talking to MJ, and it looked like she approved of the girl already. 

"OH MY GOD!!!!!!" yelled Ned as he ran at full speed at everyone. "I CAN'T BELIEVE I'M FINALLY MEETING YOU GUYS!!!!!!!" He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down, and looked around at a,l the people around him, who were trying to decide whether to laugh or not. "I'm Ned Leeds, and I already know who all you are! You're Sam," he said pointing at them, "you're Clint, you're Peggy, and you're James!" 

"Call me Bucky please," Bucky called out, smiling at the kid's slightly confused face before Ned just shrugged it off. 

"And I'm Steve!" Steve yelled from his place on the couch, a drawing pad in his lap and an array of pens and pencils scattered out on the coffee table next to him. Ned just looked around at everyone in awe, like Christmas had come early. MJ and Peter just stood to one side, trying to hold back their laughter at Ned while Peter got out his drumming stuff. 

"Sorry about him," Michelle said, walking across the room to Ned and looking around at everyone. "I'm Michelle," she continued, "My friends call me MJ. You can call me Michelle."

"I like her," Bucky heard Clint mutter to Nat, who had come to sit next to him, seeing what he had been doing. She then got up and walked over to Peter, ready to start. 

Bucky didn't have much else to do at that moment (Peggy was doing her emails, and Sam and Clint were working together on their guitars) so he plopped down on the sofa next to Steve, who promptly stretched his legs across Bucky's lap, and invited Ned and Michelle to come and take the seats opposite him. Ned quickly hurried over, eager to talk, followed by Michelle, who, unlike Ned, seemed to have the ability to move at a walking pace.

"Can I please just tell you that you're amazing thank you so much," Ned said as soon as he sat down and Bucky laughed. 

"Well I try my best!" He replied, and after that the three of them fell into an easy conversation, and Bucky found himself stealing glances at Steve every now and then, who clearly wasn't listening to a word of what they were saying. He was completely wrapped up in his drawing, probably working on whatever commission he'd been given, and Bucky found it adorable, how concentrated and into his work he was. 

After they'd been talking a while, Steve finally put his drawing down (unfortunately Bucky didn't get to see it) and asked, "Hey, Buck, do you mind passing me my laptop?" 

"Sure thing, Stevie doll," Bucky replied, leaning over to get it and passing it to Steve, and then continuing his conversation with Ned and MJ like nothing had happened. Michelle didn't look phased, but Ned looked more then slightly confused. He turned and whispered something that Bucky didn't catch she replyed 'well duh' and then they continued like normal.

That was until Bucky heard Steve gasp from across the sofa. "OH MY GOD I'VE GOT AN E-MAIL FROM PEPPER POTTS!" He yelled suddenly, and Bucky flopped over the sofa across to him to try and see the screen. 

"OH MY GOD YOU HAVE!" He yelled back, skimming his eyes down the long e-mail, trying to look for the important details. Pepper Potts was one of the world's best movie directors, if not, the best. She did all the five star, high budget movies, often earning millions more then she'd spent. 

"It says here that she's doing a movie that focuses on employing people with a brilliant talent, but are quite new to the business and haven't yet had the opportunity to work at that high level of job, but are perfectly capable to do so. It also says I'M DOING SOME OF THE CONCEPT ART!! Holy shit, I'm doing the concept art in a Pepper Potts movie, Jesus fucking Christ." He started scrolling down, eager to figure out more. "It also says that It's set in space, so it's going to be freaking epic that I get to draw aliens, oh, and Tony Stark's in this movie, surprise surprise."

Tony Stark was Pepper Potts' boyfriend, and got a role in nearly every of her movies. He was one of the highest earning actors and if you were in a movie with him you knew that you were good. Bucky saw from leaning over Steve's shoulder that he wasn't doing the lead role in this movie, however. 

Everyone was still staring at Steve, waiting to get more details. Apart from Peggy. She was staring at her own laptop, with a smirk on her face. "Guess what?" She said to them, smiling as if she knew everything. Everyone looked over at her, but no one said a word. "We've just got an e-mail from Pepper Potts." At this the entire room flipped out, (including Ned, Peter and MJ) and everyone yelled exitedly about how they'd all be making a movie together, a Pepper Potts movie no less. 

At last, Peggy yelled over the top of them, "I haven't even told you what the e-mail is about yet." This got everyone to calm down slightly, and look over at Peggy expectantly. "It says we're writing two songs to go with the movie!" They all started yelling happily, and talking among themselves again. 

Bucky turned to Steve, who he was practically lying next to on the sofa at this point. He wrapped his arms around him, pulling him even closer and kissing him on top of the head (he wished he could kiss him on the lips, but he couldn't reach from where he was say, and he didn't want to make it awkward for the kids), before releasing him again and saying exitedly, "we're working on a movie together, Stevie!" 

"Yes we are," Steve replied, laughing, as he pulled Bucky back into a hug, his eyes full of adoration. 

They were working on a movie together! 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> look at this you guys, I wasn't a complete arse in this chapter!!!!!! I also surprised myself by putting Ned and MJ in so horay for them! Good bye thanks soooooooo much for bothering to read this far!!!!


	17. Chapter 17

Bucky took a sip of his warm coffee and took a seat next to Steve and Sam in the large lecture hall where they wore going to have their first official meeting about the film. The place looked like it could've held several hundred people, which was probably how many people were working on the film. 

Everyone was here today. Today was the day that Pepper Potts was telling everyone exactly what the film was about and who's doing what and everything like that. Bucky was exited, but something told him it was going to become very long and boring. 

"I haven't been anywhere like this since art school," Bucky heard Steve whisper to him, looking around at the place. It buzzed with exited and nervous chatter, and it really wasn't that hard to remember that everyone here was new, just like them.

"I haven't been anywhere like this ever," Bucky replied, having never been to any sort of college. 

It was at that moment when Pepper Potts decided to start. She walked into the centre of the enormous lecture hall and a respectful hush came over everyone. 

"Good morning!" She said cheerfully, "I understand that most of you here are completely new to this Hollywood blockbuster kind of movie, so I am going to start of by introducing myself and the two other professionals I have with me today. I, as you probably know, am Pepper Potts, and I will be overseeing practically everything. This here is Tony Stark, and he will be spending quite a bit of time with our actors on and off set, making sure that we get their best performances. And, last but not least, this is Bruce Banner, and he will be overseeing most of the editing and computer work that goes on.

"Just so we're all clear, I will be going over what each team will be doing. You know which team you're in from the emails you all got so hopefully I don't need to go over that." Bucky half zoned out of what everyone was doing because, quite honestly he didn't care. He listened again, however, when Steve's team came up. 

"Concept art team b will be managing all the character designing and some of the animals." Steve lit up at this, he loved drawing people, especially non-human people. Bucky was happy for him, and could see that he was practically glowing with pride and joy.

"The Avengers, who you may or may not have heard of, will be doing two different songs. For one of them, they will be working quite closely with the story board team," (Bucky had no idea who they were, he was zoned out for that bit, but he pressumed they kept track of the storyline) "and for the second one they will be working with character concept team, which mainly consists of concept art team b and a few other people." Clint cheered, causing everyone to turn and look at them, and the rust of the team just flushed in embarrassment, wishing they could dissolve into their seats, which, of course, is exactly what Clint wanted.

\------

The rest of the day passed slowly, and by the end they were all feeling like they were back in school in a boring grammer lesson (but it's not like interesting grammer lessons were a thing). It was a stereotypical Hollywood space movie: big handsome guy and his quirky best friend going around the universe, they have to save the universe, they almost fail, there's a big fight, they save the universe, handsome guy get a girlfriend, the end. No matter how much he complained, however, Bucky was still thrilled to be doing this movie. 

Bucky climbed into Steve's car (which had finally been fixed) and they drove round to Steve's house. As soon as they got there, Bucky flopped down on Steve's sofa and pulled out his phone, and started scrolling through instagram like he did a lot now. 

"Hey Stevie," he called to Steve, who was in the kitchen making himself another coffee, "do you think I should video call that girl from Instagram I've been talkin' to?" 

"The one from New Orleans?" Steve asked and Bucky nodded, "yeah, but hang on and wait for me to get over there!"

Bucky waited a few minutes before asking the girl if he could call her, who (surprise suprise) turned out to be online and immediately replied with a yes. She picked up almost immediately and Steve waited to see her reaction when the screen came into focus. 

"Hey," said Bucky, smiling, and the girl's face slowly went through ALL the emotions; confusion, then shock, then disbeleif. 

"No way," she said after a while, "nuh-uh. No way is James Barnes calling me. No freaking way."

"Yeah, it's me," he said calmly to the girl, who was still freaking out, though not as much as before.

"Prove it," she said, "touch your left ear with your pinky finger," Bucky touched his left ear. He could hear Steve snickering slightly next to him."Holy shit, holy shit, you're not some kind of video recording, holy shit." She continued her little freak out session.

"What's your name, please," Bucky asked "I feel bad that I don't know your real name."

"My name's Megan," she said, and she seemed to have relaxed a bit now.

"And my name's Bucky Barnes," he added.

"I thought your name was James."

"It is," Bucky admitted, "but I prefer people I know to call me Bucky. It's my middle name." Megan nodded her head, lost in thought for a few minutes. She had a shoulder length auburn hair and freckles were splashed across her face. Bucky would have found her pretty if he wasn't completely and utterly gay.

"Where are you," she said at last, "not to be creepy or anythin', I'm just curious."

Bucky smiled and replied, "I'm at Steve's house."

"Who's Steve?" Megan asked.

"That would be me!" Steve yelled from the other end of the sofa, and Bucky turned the camera around and Steve waved, although he was careful to keep their legs, which were tangled together, out of the frame. 

"Is he your friend or somethin'?" Megan asked curiously. 

"Or something," Bucky replied, trying to keep the sly smile off his face. After that, they started chatting, and it became easier and less awkward as the time went on. Bucky told the Megan about how he would delete this account after this (which she wasn't entirely happy about), but he didn't say that he'd probably end up making himself another one. After a while, they realized they had been talking for about an hour, and with only a few interruptions from Steve. Bucky found himself a little bit sad when Megan declared she had to hang up because she had a four year old brother who needed to sleep. 

\------

"Hey Stevie," Bucky asked after a while, "can I stay the night?" Steve immidiately agreed, and not long after they decided to go to bed. 

Bucky curled himself around Steve's small frame, clutching him tightly. Steve found himself trying to get as close to Bucky as possible, and pressed his face into Bucky's shoulder, wanting to remember how Bucky smelled. 

"I love you, babydoll," said Bucky softly, and Steve could feel the vibrations his chest made when he spoke. He loved it.

"I love you to, Buck."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heellllooooo what is up good people of ao3. Today I was writing and I was randomly like, huh, I'm only on 700 (ish) words and I've done everything I told myself to write about. So, cos I could not be bothered to get out of bed and get my notebook to check what's meant to come next, I just wrote that. Like, ik it was supposed to go somewhere in the story, but I have no clue where. Also, I convinced my parents I was going to bed early so I could stay up and write this for ages with no one disturbing me. Ok then, byyyyyeeeeeehdgskakagdfzghjshsgzffshsjklfk


	18. Chapter 18

After a few weeks, work started for Bucky. It had started for Steve the day after the meeting, but, seeing as everyone they were working with needed time to start off, they didn't start work until later. Bucky walked with Steve into the huge building, which was as big as the one they saw Loki in, but Bucky doubted that the film company were using all the floors. Steve, who seemed to know the part of the building where he worked pretty well by now, showed Bucky to the room he would be working in, where he was not surprised to see Nat and Peggy already there, talking with some other early-arrivers.

"It's nice to see that you won't be doing the paper work today," Peggy said as he walked over to them. Bucky waved bye to Steve and then sat down. 

"I bet you that it's going to be Clint," Bucky replied, sipping his coffee, and Natasha nodded in agreement. He then looked around at the five other people sat around him (the oldest couldn't've been more then 35) and said, "Hello, I'm Bucky Barnes." 

Everyone else introduced themselves, and they started to work when Sam came in, Clint coming in last, and having to do the paper work. 

\------

It was a Monday morning, once again, and Bucky was sat with Steve in his car. He parked in the car park, went to get out of the door but Steve grabbed his arm. 

"Just so you know," said Steve quietly, looking down, "My boss is extremely homophobic, so could you please pretend that we're just friends when we're around him," Steve looked down, ashamed, and although Bucky was slightly disappointed, he was more mad then anything. "It's just," Steve added quickly, "a few days ago a woman got fired by him because she said she was a lesbian. I'm sorry."

"You got nothing to apologize for, babydoll. It's that arsehole who needs to apologize, not you," Bucky said, leaning over to Steve and hooking two fingers under his chin so he could see his face. "Don't worry." Bucky then kissed him, and he could hear Steve gasp a little for the unexpectedness of it, but he pretended not to hear. 

They both climbed out the car with smiles on their faces, but a slight bitterness in their hearts. How was it fair that people got fired just because of their sexuality? How was it fair that Steve had to worry about if he was going to loose his job over that?

This week when Steve lead Bucky through the many halls that Bucky had started to become familiar with over the past week, they didn't split up. They made it to the workroom, and Bucky went to sit down with Nat and Sam and some other people that he didn't know the name of yet. He saw Peggy talking to and impotant looking man, who looked to be in his late 50s and had a permenant scowl. Bucky presumed immidiately that he was the boss Steve had warned him about. 

They greeted everyone cheerfully and then said to Nat in a low voice, "Aparently, the boss is a complete homophobe so don't say anythin'," he whispered. Nat passed it on to Sam before turning back to Bucky. 

"You see that little blond guy over there?" She said, nodding her head to where a small man was sitting, looking the other way. "He's a complete suck up and a snitch, don't say anything about it to him." 

Bucky nodded and they continued their conversation as if nothing had happened. After a while, Steve and his new friend wandered over and Steve introduced them. 

"Hey guys!" He said cheerfully, "This is Wanda, Wanda this is Bucky and Natasha." Wanda waved shyly and smiled. Bucky offered his hand for her to shake, which she took.

"It's nice meetin' you," he said to her and she shook Nat's hand as well. 

"It's nice meeting you too," she said back, smiling, with a sort of European accent that Bucky didn't recognize . "Steve's told me a lot about you."

"Has he?" Bucky answered, raising an eyebrow at Steve, who flushed in embarrassment, "Let's hope I live up to your standards then. "

Clint came in just as Peggy was walking over to them. "Hello Clint," she said to him, "nice to see that you could get out of bed this morning." Clint practically ignored her and sat himself down on the other side of Nat, and she whispered to him about everyone, which was also what Bucky pressumed Steve was saying to Peggy.

Then the boss started talking (boss didn't exactly seem the right word for him, it felt to Bucky like he should be calling him general or captain or, at least, sir) "So today we will be joined by the music group known as 'the Avengers' and they will probably be popping in and out all this week too," he started, his voice like a monotone foghorn. He started to explain the character, and while Bucky listened, he tried to hook his legs around Steve's under the table, looking for a discrete way to not be to awkwardly sitting next to each other, mainly because he was pretty sure Nat and Wanda were starting to feel some of the tension coming off of them. 

It took about an hour for the man to stop speaking, and for the rest of the morning and most of the afternoon, they worked on ideas for lyrics and chords and tunes and rhythms. It was only later that afternoon, when it was only about half an hour until they had to go, that Bucky got to go and see what Steve was doing.

"Hey Stevie," Bucky said from behind him, leaning on the back of Steve's chair. Steve looked around at him, checking who he was (it's quite hard to tell with earphones in) then glanced back to his work, pulling his earphones out. "What ya drawing?" 

"Oh, it's just some old friend of the main character guy. Apparently, he spends all his time in casinos betting and drinking, that kinda guy, ya'know." Steve shrugged dismissively and went back to his drawing. 

"It's really great, Steve," Bucky said, and a blush rose up on Steve's cheeks, "you know that, right?"

"It's not even finished yet," he said shyly, and went back to drawing. Bucky watched him for a few minutes, amazed at how he could use one colour of pencil and make different parts look so different, and how he could use two quite different colours and make them look like one. 

"I'll meet you in the entrance hall to pick you up, yeah?" Bucky said at last, taking his weight of Steve's chair.

"Yeah," Steve agreed, and with that Bucky headed back to his work, and Steve continued with his.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hellllloololldkdhgajxjshdjfklfjhfzgshh how r u guysssss!??!??? Also why the hell did this take me so long 2 write????? Thanks 4 reading this far, how the bloody hell r we on chap 18 alllreeeaaadyyyyy???? Howwwwwww????? Cya soooooon.


	19. Chapter 19

This week they were all at the studio again, and the band had just finished their job with Pepper Potts. Even though they had no reason to be there - apart from Natasha, who was giving Peter his lesson. They weren't even doing any work, just sitting around talking like it was a Sunday. 

"I'm moving to a new apartment next Sunday!" Steve blurted out suddenly, "Do you guys mind helping me move?" 

"Is that the apartment that you went to look round last weekend?" Bucky asked, raisin an eyebrow and Steve nodded. "How come you get to move in so soon?" 

"Well, the agent said he'd had it for a while, and, to be honest, he looked really glad that someone was buying it. I don't know why nobody did, it seems perfectly fine apart from the fact 50% of the walls are a horrible yellow. But nothing paint can't fix right?" 

"Sure we'll help," Sam butted in. "You look like you might need some help with the paint as well, if you haven't got any ladders," Sam smirked at him.

"Shut up," said Steve, rolling his eyes. 

\------

Before they knew it, it was next Sunday, and everyone had brought their cars to Steve's house. They were loading the couch into Sam's van, along with some other furniture, and putting some smaller furniture, like chairs, in Clint's car, which seats had been folded down. Everyone else was piling boxes into their cars, which Steve had spent the last two weeks packing. 

"Holy shit Steve, you have a lot of stuff," said Natasha, as she helped load Peggy's car up (hers was full).

"Tell me about it," called back Steve, who was doing his best to help Sam and Bucky stuff a mattress into the van next to his couch. 

"Yeah," Clint agreed, carrying three chairs, "nothing like normal, friendly bonding time." 

They had pretty much packed everything, and the cars were all comlletely full, so they decided to set off. It wasn't to far, and they all got there in under fifteen minutes. 

"And now," Peggy said, "we have to do it all again." A few people cheered sarcastically, but most just got on with it. They headed in, and they were definitely glad that Steve's apartment was on the second floor, not the third floor like last time. 

Steve was definately the leader when it came to this. Everyone could feel it and they let themselves be ordered around by him. It wasn't like he was just standing there telling them what to do, anyway, he was helping. 

"For fucks sake, Bucky," Steve yelled for the 50th time that hour, "don't put the box with the radio in in the sink!"

\------

It was the end of the day, and everyone had gone home apart from Bucky, who lay with Steve on the sofa they had randomly put in an empty room. The floor was relatively clear in hear, and they had brought Steve's radio in and they were listening to what ever pop song was playing.

Suddenly, they heard the letter box clang, like a letter had just been posted through. Steve frowned, he hadn't given anyone his new address yet, and decided to get up and investigate. He walked back into the room holding an envelope, addressed to him, with pretty gold trimmings and sat back down on the couch. Bucky leaned over his shoulder to see what it was. 

"You're first letter to your new house, Stevie," said Bucky as Steve opened the letter. When they saw what it said, they both smiled widely.

You are invited to join us for the marrige of

Laura and Clint Barton

On Saturday 25th of May 2019

They read down the letter finding the address and things, and Bucky was sure that he would find one posted through his door when he got home. 

"They've finally sent out invitations!" Steve said happily, and Bucky jumped to his feet, pulling Steve with him. Steve gave him a questioning look, before Bucky said,

"You're going to a wedding, you need to know how to dance!" He said exitedly, as the song on the radio ended.

"I have two left feet, Buck, I can't dance," Steve said.

"Nonsense," Bucky said and pulled Steve towards him as the music started playing on the radio. He started waltzing Steve around the empty room to the slow beat of the song, and could hear Steve giggling about it. 

_'My house in Budapest,_

_My hidden treasure chest,_

_Golden grand piano,_

_My beautiful castillo,'_

The radio started singing as Steve let Bucky lead him around the room, trying to copy how his feet moved, so gracefully and elegantly.

_'You (ooooo),_

_You (ooooo),_

_I'd leave it all.'_

Steve and Bucky laughed together as Bucky twirled Steve around the room, making sure they were spinning whenever the radio said ooooo.

_'My acres of a land,_

_I have achieved._

_It may be hard for you to,_

_Stop and believe,_

_But for you (ooooo),_

_You (ooooo),_

_I'd leave it all._

_Oh for you (ooooo),_

_You (ooooo),_

_I'd leave it all.'_

Bucky didn't complain about Steve stepping on his toe accidentally, and pulled him closer, balancing his chin and Steve's head.

_'Give me one good reason_

_why I should never make a change._

_Baby if you hold me,_

_Th_ _en all of this will go away.'_

Bucky adjusted his grip on Steve, making sure that he could see Steve's face. He was, Bucky thought, beautiful, and he wondered why no one had swooped down to get Steve before he had.

_'My many artefacts,_

_The list goes on,_

_If you just say the words,_

_I'll up and run._

_Oh, to you (ooooo),_

_You (ooooo),_

_I'd leave it all._

_Oh, to you (ooooo),_

_You (ooooo),_

_I'd leave it all.'_

_Steve could see the joy in Bucky's eyes as he twirled Steve around their makeshift dance floor. Even if they weren't both smiling and laughing, Steve would still be able to tell that Bucky was enjoying himself, he could never mask the happiness in his eyes._

_'Give me one good reason_

_Why I should never make a change._

_And baby if you hold me,_

_Then all of this will go away._

_Give me one good reason_

_Why I should never make a change._

_Baby if you hold me,_

_Then all of this will go away.'_

The man on the radio stopped singing for a while, and the speed of the song picked up a bit. Of course, this meant they sped up to, and Steve found that he was only just able to keep up with Bucky as he twirled him much quicker around the room. They laughed happily, not caring if one of them (Steve) tripped up or made a mistake. It was brilliant.

The music had slowed back down to its regular speed, and so did their dancing, and Steve was relieved. He was enjoying it, a lot actually, but he didn't think he'd be able to keep up with Bucky much longer.

_'Give me one good reason_

_Why I should never make a change._

_And baby if you hold me,_

_Then all of this will go away._

_Give me one good reason_

_Why I should never make a change._

_Baby if you hold me,_

_Then all of this will go away.'_

After the two choruses, the music slowed down a little and, once again, Bucky adjusted his grip on Steve, pulling him close. He held the man against his chest, and their dancing slowed again to match the music. At this point, they were basically slow dancing around the temporary living room.

_'My house in Budapest,_

_My hidden treasure chest,_

_Golden grand piano,_

_My beautiful Castillo._

_You (ooooo),_

_You (ooooo),_

_I'd leave it all._

_Oh for you (ooooo),_

_You (ooooo),_

_I'd leave it all.'_

The song ended, much to their dismay, but they stayed still, and they stayed together, for a few more moments. Suddenly, Steve felt himself standing on his toes to make himself the same height as Bucky, and kissed him on the lips. Bucky kissed back, and they stood like that for quite a while, arms wrapped around each other, trying to never forget this moment. Steve knew he wouldn't, and he smiled slightly as Bucky pulled him closer.

"You're not as bad as you said you were," Bucky said, sounding almost breathless, as they pulled away. 

"Favouritism," Steve muttered back, grinning widely. He closed the space between them again, wanting to live in this moment forever. 

If only he could.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> look you guys, its my longest chapter yetttttt!!!! The song at the top is the song Steve and Bucky danced to. Budapest by george Ezra. Idek why it was on my playlist when I was looking for songs, but whatever!!!! Bye see ya soon.


	20. Chapter 20

"Hey guys!" Steve said cheerfully as he walked into the studio once again, throwing himself down on an unoccupied couch. He received a few replies, but the studio seemed weirdly quite today, although maybe that was just because Peter wasn't here yet. He setteled himself down and got his drawing stuff out. 

"So where's Bucky?" Steve asked casually, looking around at them. He saw them all glance at each other, and a tense silence forming. 

At last, Sam spoke. "He's at home," Sam said briefly.

"Why?" asked Steve, puzzled. He could feel that it was more then being sick, and Bucky had been fine when he saw him a few days ago. 

Sam glanced around again, before taking a deep breath and saying, "It's the anniversary of his sister's death. He's made it very clear that no one is allowed to go round his house. I'm pretty sure he still blames himself."

Steve put his drawing down, and looked around the room at everyone. A tense, heavy silence had fallen over all of them, and no one dared to look anyone else, especially him, in the eye. After a few minutes, Steve went back to his drawing, but the atmosphere never fell back to being cheerful, like normal, although today it had never felt right in the first place.

Even when everyone started talking again, it didn't feel right. Steve chatted absent mindedly to Peggy, who was sat on one of the other sofas, doing whatever Peggy did, and he could feel that she wasn't her normal self today, as if she had taken in some of the grief that was in the air.

\------

Steve desperately wanted to go and see Bucky, but they had said he wouldn't even let Sam come and see him, and he had been with Bucky when he found his dead sister. He thought about it as he put his things away as he walked into his almost new home, setting his finished drawing down on the countertop and manovering around the piles of boxes to get to the kitchen. 

He was almost finished making himself some food when he heard a knock at the door. He carefully put down his spatula and hurried over to the door, opening it and letting the cold draft into his house. 

Almost immidiately, he felt the person at the door fall into his arms. He could feel that it was Bucky, and he just looked at him in suprise as he pulled away and turned to close the door.

Bucky looked like shit. He was standing there, shivering in his soaked clothes, and hadn't even had the idea to put a coat on before he walked (Steve presumed he walked) the 20 minute walk to Steve's house in the wind and rain. His eyes were red and swollen, like he had been crying. 

"Oh my god, Bucky, are you ok?" Steve said gently to him, "Well you're obviously not. Is there anything I can do to help?" Bucky stared back at Steve, wondering why he was being so nice to him. He said nothing, and headed to the couch, Steve following behind him. He sat down next to him and Steve gently placed his hand on Bucky's shoulder. "Have you even eaten anything today?" Steve asked. By my hesitated for a second, and then nervously shook his head. "I've got some bacon and fries in the oven, if you want any," Steve suggested and Bucky nodded his head silently. 

Steve went out of the room, and Bucky found himself wondering what he had done to deserve this. Why was Steve being so kind to him? He didn't know why he came running to Steve in the first place. His feet just lead him somewhere until he found himself at Steve's house. He had never gone to anyone on this day before, why does it have to change today?

His thoughts were inturupted as Steve came back into the room, holding two steaming plates of food. He set one down on Bucky's lap, and Bucky took a few hesitant bites before he just continued to stare blankly at it. 

"It's all my fault," Bucky said suddenly, after five minutes of silence, his voice croaky and hollow. Steve looked at him in suprise, but didn't say anything. "I could've saved her," he said his voice cracking, tears starting to fall down his face again. Steve shuffled closer to him, and put his hands on Bucky's shoulders again, but Bucky refused to look him in the eye. 

"It's not your fault," Steve said gently.

"She was only shot in the leg. If I had gotten to her quicker, if I had been there, I-I-" Bucky started sobbing again, and he buried his face in Steve's shoulder. Steve wrapped his arms around Bucky, tracing circles down his back. 

"It's all going to be ok," Steve said softly as Bucky continued to cry. 

Bucky finally pulled away. "Why are you even doing this for me?" Bucky asked quietly, "I'm a failure, I'm a murderer, why do you even like me?" 

Steve pulled Bucky's chin up so their gazes met. "I'm doing this because I love you, Buck. I'm doing this because you're not a failure, or a murderer, and because I'm with you til the end of the line. Remember that, yeah?" 

Bucky nodded his head slightly, and although he didn't smile, Steve could see some of the light returning to his eyes, and he gradually stopped crying. He wrapped his arms around Steve's body, and he lay his head against his chest, listening to his heart beat. It was reassuring, in a way, knowing that he was alive. Maybe he couldn't save Becca, but he could keep Steve alive, and maybe then it would be ok. 

Steve ran his hands through Bucky's hair and the silence was much more comfortable now. After a while, Steve heard Bucky snoring softly, and he realized he had fallen asleep. It was not long before Steve was asleep as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> whatttttsssss uuuuuppp!!!!! I had fun writing this chapter, and it has been a race against my battery power to get this done, so byyyeeeeee because this things about to die.


	21. Chapter 21

The time until the 26th of May went by quickly, and soon enough, Bucky found himself standing outside of the small, but pretty chapel that Clint would be getting married in. He, Sam and Peggy were Clint's groomsmen (Clint had been delighted when he found out that groomsmen could be women) and Sam and Bucky wore matching suits, and Peggy wore the same thing but with a smart, black skirt. She had her hair curled immaculately, and even though she looked the best out of all of them, had probably spend the least time and the least amount of hair gell while getting ready.

Natasha and Clint were inside, checking the decorations. Bucky knew that they'd come outside in a minute, and they would probably spend about half an hour trying to calm Clint down. From what Bucky had seen of him so far today, he looked as pale as a vampire, and like he was about to puke. 

When the first guests started to arrive, Clint made his way back inside, followed by Natasha, who was the best woman. The three of them were left to greet everyone while Nat probably had to spend the next hour trying not to let Clint freak out. 

"Hiya Stevie," he said when he saw Steve coming up to him. He looked great in his suit, and Bucky could feel him pause when he saw Bucky. "Have fun!" He said cheerfully as he kissed Steve's cheek. Probably best not to full on kiss him at a church with little kids near by, Bucky thought. He pressumed the little kids were nieces or nephews of Laura's, she seemed to have a lot of those.

"Will do!" Said Steve, sending a flirty smile back at Bucky as he walked into the church.

The ceremony was beautiful, and, although it wasn't massive, only close friends and family, you could feel happiness in the room, and everything seemed to glow a warm, happy glow. The vow exchange was wonderful, and no one in that room doubted that Clint and Laura loved each other in that moment. The dinner had been delicious, and not wanting to leave anyone out, they had pushed all the tables together to make one huge table, instead of seating people at all different tables.

\------

The party, however, was a whole different matter. It seemed ever one they had ever met and their best friends were invited. He could see Peter jumping around in exitement, in a suit that didn't quite look like it fitted him, followed by a woman that Bucky could only assume was his aunt. There was a live band setting up in the corner of the massive, furniture-free room, that would probably be used as a dance floor later. Bucky made his way over to Peter, and Peter's aunt, who looked kind of lost in the huge room full of people they didn't know. They were by the finger-food table, and, still stuffed from the huge meal he'd just had, he didn't take any. 

He introduced himself politely and so did she, and after a while they drifted apart again, and, to be honest, Bucky was only talking to people because he was bored of waiting for Clint and Laura to finish doing the official paperwork and stuff. Why couldn't they just be here and have the first dance already?

And then they came out onto the dance floor. He had seen Laura's dress already, but in this light it just looked more stunning the it had the first time he saw it. Clint lead her over to the dance floor, and then took her by her hands. The band started playing a beautiful, slow song and Clint and Laura twirled around the dance floor in perfect time to it. The entire scene looked serene, with the joy written across everyone's faces, and the happiness that sparkled in their eyes. 

After one song, they kept dancing, but people gradually started to join in. Once there were five or so couples on the dance floor, Bucky found himself next to steve. "You wanna dance?" Offered Bucky, holding out his hand.

Steve flushed red. "Sure, why not." Steve replied shyly, and let Bucky lead him onto the dance floor. They waltzed around to the music, for a while, and Steve tried his best not to stand on Bucky's feet, he really did. Althouh they were the only gay couple on the dance floor, they thankfully didn't get more then a second glance, from what Steve could see. After a while, Steve stopped looking at the people around him. He just concentrated on Bucky. After all, who cared what they thought?

After a couple of songs, they went back and sat down. They talked to people, but after about 9 o'clock they could see that around 50% of the guest were drunk or getting drunk. Steve didn't like drinking, and Bucky had only had one drink, so neither of them were drunk. It was kind of funny however, watching the people get drunk while they weren't.

Near to the end of the night, Steve noticed Peter hanging around them more and more. He knew that this was probably because most people had alcohol, and Steve kind of felt sorry for the kid, having to watch everyone else like this. He invited him over, and, eventually, they started talking, trying their best to ignore the people in the back ground. 

It was around 2 in the morning that Steve and Bucky finally left, exhausted. When Steve got home, he could barely even bother to make the effort to not fall asleep in his suit, and after he changed he flopped down on his bed. He was asleep almost immediately.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this chapter is short u guys. Sorrrrryyyyy. had a good Christmas tho, its sad that the holidays r amost over. :( have fun tho!!!


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooooooo look past me had nothing to say about this chapter. What a miracle

"Hey, Penis!" Peter groaned and looked around at Flash, who was yelling his name from down the corridor. He should've been expecting it, really, it's not like it was anything new. "How many dicks did you suck to get them to take this photo and pretend you were at a wedding?" 

Flash thrust his phone in Peter's face, where there was a picture of him, Steve and Bucky from Clint's wedding that Bucky had posted on his instagram. It was caption something along the lines of 'Clint's wedding was great! Please try and ignore the drunks in the background'. 

"I'm literally the only one in that photo who hasn't sucked a dick." Peter replied, barely loud enough for Flash to hear. He heard Ned snicker from beside him, and Flash looking at him weirdly.

"Yeah, right," Flash retorted, "like James Barnes would suck a dick." Peter just sighed and turned around, closely followed by Ned as he headed back up the corridor. 

"What the hell, man? You had him!" Ned said to Peter, confused. Peter just ignored him. It was going to be a long day.

\------

The next Sunday was not an ordinary Sunday. On ordinary Sundays, the five of them would go round Peggy's. But today, however, they were out in the shopping centre, with Peter and Steve and Laura as well as them. Bucky and the rest of the avengers had on baseball caps, or sunglasses, or both. He couldn't properly see the rest of the team, but it was better then having to stop every two minutes for fans.

Bucky walked at the back of the group, next to Peter and Steve. He kept so close to Steve that their hands kept bumping into each other's every few seconds, sending electric waves up Bucky's arm. He wished he could just reach out and grab Steve's hand, like any other normal couple, but there was always the risk that someone would recognise him, and he wasn't quite sure if he was ready to come out to the general public yet. Even if they weren't recognised, there was still the risk that they'd be given shit for it, right here on the street.

"Hey, Penis!" He heard a yell from across the street. It didn't seem to be directed at him, but instead at Peter, who was avoiding eye contact at all costs and trying to hide behind Bucky and Steve. He looked back at the boy who had yelled. He seemed to be your typical high school bully, followed by a gaggle of friends, either girls with cake faces of make up, or boys who's ego was the size of the Burj Khalifa.

"Why are you hanging out with a bunch of adults and pretending their the avengers?" He yelled from across the street, causing his gang of friends to snicker loudly. 

Bucky saw red. What had Peter done? He seemed like one of the nicest, most enthusiastic kids that Bucky had ever met. He and Nat, who looked dangerously furious, Bucky wouldn't want to be that kid. 

"Hello," Nat said, her voice calm, but full of hidden venom. Bucky knew that when Nat was really, really mad she wouldn't scream, or shout, but she would speak quietly, and coldly, like the calm before the storm. "Who are you?" 

"I'm Flash Thompson!" Flash replied confidently.

Natasha pulled off her baseball cap. Flash's eyes flashed worriedly in recognition of who she was. "I'm Natasha Ramanoff."

"And I'm James Barnes," Bucky butted in, lowering his sunglasses. "And do you wanna say that again?"

Flash just shook his head, slowly, to nervous to say anything now. "I'll give you a hint," Nat said, her voice dangerously quiet now, "you really, really don't." Flash paled and looked around for his group of friends, who had moved on quickly. He scampered back to them. Satisfied, Nat and Bucky made their way back to the group.

Almost immidiately, Peter tackled them both for a hug. "Thank you so, so, so, so, so much!" He yelled. Natasha and Bucky just pulled him closer to them. This kid had been through more then he let on.

They let Peter choose where they were going to have lunch. They were all expecting him to find some big, fancy place, and they were all pleasingly surprised when he decided on a small, Mediterranean cafe. They all discovered, however that the food was legendary, better then the fancy places and they had decent sized portions. 

Bucky was sat at the table, next to Steve, listening to Peggy complain about how Nat had seafood again. She stopped complaining after a while however, because dessert came (were you even meant to have dessert at lunch?) and it was the best. Bucky could see why Peter chose this place. 

"I have an announcement," Peggy said as dessert came, and everyone looked at her. "We have decided that we're going to go on tour!" She announced, and there was a moment of silence before it really settled in. 

Bucky looked at Steve, almost dreading his reaction. Steve, however, launched himself at Bucky, wrapping his arms around him. "I'm so happy for you!" He said exitedly.

Peggy coughed and everyone soon stopped talking and looked at her. "The band already know this," she started, "but I need to tell you where we're going!" Everyone nodded. "First of all, we're going to three cities in Canada: Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver. Then we're going to go to Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Las vegas. After that, we will be coming home for a break for three days before going to Houston, New Orleans, Memphis, Miami, Atlanta and Washington. Then, we're going to London to play in the O2 area! Our last stop will be New York, for a grand finale!" Everyone started nodding, "Don't worry if you can't remember, I will text you our schedule."

Peter looked relieved at this, and everyone else felt it. Sam called the waiter over. "Can we please have seven glasses of champagne," he asked, and the waiter nodded. A few minutes later the waiter came back.

"I think a celebration is in order!" Sam said loudly to everyone. "To our tour!" He said, holding his glass up. Everyone else copied, knocking their glasses against everyone else's. Even Peter joined in, with his fruit juice. They all drank, and despite Steve putting his drink down in disgust a few seconds later, they were all happy.


	23. Chapter 23

"So, how're you gonna get around on this tour thing?" Steve asked, after they had finished their afternoon with everyone. They lay on Bucky's sofa, in his new house that he'd moved into about a week ago. Steve had his personal drawing pad out, not the one he used for commissions, and Bucky had his body spread across the couch and was half laying on Steve. He said he was on his phone, but he seemed to be staring at Steve more then he was looking at his phone. 

"We've got this awesome, huge bus thin' for the cities that are closer to each other, but we're going by plane for the others," replied Bucky, putting his phone down and looking at Steve. Steve just nodded in reply and went back to his drawing. 

It was a few minutes before anyone spoke again. "I'm gonna miss you," Steve said softly, and Bucky looked up. 

"I'm gonna miss you to, Stevie doll. I'll Skype and call whenever I can, yeah?" Bucky replied, getting another nod off Steve, but a slightly more hesitant one now.

Steve leaned over to Bucky, putting down his sketch pad and kissing him full on the lips. Bucky was surprised, but after a few seconds he melted into it, lifting himself up to Steve and wrapping his arms around his waist. After a while they broke apart. "I'm gonna need a lot of them to make up for when you're gone." Steve said breathlessly, his voice shaking. 

Bucky could see Steve's eye watering now, and reached over to cup Steve's face in his hand. He pulled Steve closer into a hug, and ran his hands down Steve's back. "Don't worry Steve, I'll be back before you know it." Bucky's voice shook slightly as he said this and he hoped Steve didn't notice. Bucky wasn't entirely sure if he was trying to convince Steve or himself at this point, because, although, in this moment in time, he was trying to be the stronger of the two, sometimes stronger isn't strong enough. "It's til the end of the line, remember, Steve." He said again, his voice trembling now and tears silently streaming down their faces. 

"Til the end of the line," agreed Steve quietly, and they both pulled each other closer, afraid that the other would disappear at any second, leaving them with nothing, all alone. Bucky thought about it, and he didn't know what he'd do without Steve, or what he'd do if Steve had never come into his life. 

After what seemed like an eternity, but still not long enough, Steve let go. Steve shuffled his way over to where his abandoned sketch book lay, and picked it up. Bucky watched in mild shock and curiosity as he started ripping out pages, about five all together. Steve then shuffled his way back over, pages in his hands. 

"These are for you," Steve said quietly, handing over the paper to Bucky. Bucky turned them over, eager to see what they were.

They were sketches, sketches of him. They were amazing, and every little detail had been carefully drawn. The first one was one that Steve had probably sketched just now, of him lying on the sofa. There was one of him in his suit and tie at Clint's wedding, smiling happily at something someone had just said. There was one of him laughing, and, judging by the date on it, it was probably sketched while he talked to Peter's friends, Ned and MJ. Another was of him before they even got together. This one didn't seem to have any significant time or place, but it did have the caption, I can't seem to get this guy out of my head, written in Steve's small scrawl. 

He got to the last one and gasped. It was him, again, but he remembered the day as clearly as Steve did, by the looks of it. It was him, sat on a bench in a secluded area of the park, where they had first kissed. This one was different from all the rest, because the rest were just in black and white. But this one, Steve had coloured the blossoms hanging in the background the prettiest pink. 

"Steve, I don't know what to say," whispered Bucky, in awe.

"Then don't say anything," Steve whispered back, pulling Bucky in yet again for another kiss, a more desperate one this time. "Just make up for all the time you'll be gone," he said, a small smile forming on his face.

\------

The departure from the airport to go to montreal had been a sad one. Although they were meant to be happy, Bucky couldnt help but think how much he'd miss Steve, and he could tell Clint was thinking the same about Laura. 

Peter couldn't come to say bye but they had all waved him off the day before. Steve and Laura, however, accompanied them all the way to the departure gate, as far as they could go. After a long goodbye, they headed onto the airplane, and they were all strangely quiet. No one had shed a tear, but Bucky couldn't help but feel like all the tears had already been cried, and there was no more needed. 

After roughly five minutes sat on the plane, waiting to leave, the adrenaline started to set in, and the exitement. It was only a one and a half hour flight, but they were still in anticipation of lift off.

\------

The next day was the first concert. It was nothing like he'd ever experienced, more people then he ever could imagine. Steve had called him earlier that day, asking how the flight went and Bucky described it to him happily. He talked about the fancy hotel not far from where they were performing that they were staying in for the night. He recounted their talk with a small smile as he lay on his bed, looking up at the ceiling, exhausted but to awake with exhilaration to sleep. 

Still, the realization of them being apart had not quite settled in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heyyyyyyyyy idek this is kinda sweet but kinda depressing at the same time. It was fun. Sorry its kinda short, but also not sorry because I had a hell of a good time writing it. Hope I didn't break you to much (actually the I hope I did). Byyyyeeeee.


	24. Chapter 24

Bucky lay in his bunk on the bus with his phone in his hand. They were driving from Vancouver to Seattle,and had just crossed the border between Canada and the USA. The bus was quite big, for a bus. At the very front was the seat for the driver (they all took turns driving), and behind that was the door where you came onto the bus and a small shower and toilet compartment. If you turned the corner and went through a door, there would be a small kitchen and a fully working fridge and oven. After that, was the living area. This room was the biggest in the bus, and mainly consisted of couches, but there was also a small table they could pull out to eat at if they wanted to (they never did). At the very back, there was where they slept. There were six pod-like beds, stacked on top of each other, on both of the walls. That did mean that there was a spare bed, but no one minded because it was used to put all the random stuff they found left lying around. 

Bucky was the only one with a bunk on the very bottom of the stack of beds. He was very close to the engine, and he could hear it rumbling as they went along. Everyone asked if he found it annoying, it was so noisy so close to his head, but Bucky found the low pur off the engine more comforting then annoying.

Bucky clicked the face-time button. Almost immediately, Steve picked up. "Hey Stevie!" Bucky said exitedly, as the video image of Steve crackles to life. "How's it goin'?"

"Hey Buck," Steve replied happily, "it's goin' good." Steve smiled, then he paused for a second. "Hang on, aren't you ment to be starting a concert right about now?" 

Bucky laughed at Steve's worried and confused face. "Nah, I ain't. That's in three hours."

"Oh yeah, time difference 'n' all," Steve said. 

"Yeah. We crossed the border, like, two hours ago," replied Bucky, changing the subject. "The guy at the toll booth gave us a bit of a hard time 'cause the bus' so big. I'm sure as hell glad Sam was drivin' and I weren't" 

"We can hear you, arsehole!" Sam yelled from the other room, where he had probably flopped onto one of the couches closer to the bunks. Steve laughed and they both continued chatting.

"Aren't you ment to have bodyguards, or somethin', for after the concert?" Steve randomly asked after a while of talking.

"You don't need bodyguards when you have a Natasha Ramanoff," Bucky said without a pause. God knows what she did in Russia before she moved to the USA but it sure wasn't the military because the military don't teach you moves like that. Bucky was afraid of her even though the only time he'd seen her fight was when she knocked out that old, creepy dude at the bar.

\------

Steve had found himself counting down the hours until he'd see Bucky since yesterday. He was now at the airport with Laura, Peter and May and they were making their way to the terminal. Steve knew it was still exactly 32 minutes until th airplane was supposed to land, but he could still feel himself getting exited. Though, to be fair, Steve had been exited since two days ago. 

Once the odd group had run out of things to talk about (although May and Laura were still chatting quietly in the backgeound), they stood in an odd kind of silence, the minutes crawling past like a snail. Well, more like an old grampa snail in quicksand and the snail was pulling a two ton weight behind it. In other words, it took forever. 

After what felt like days, they saw the plane land. Everyone knew it still would be ten minutes or so before the team came to where they were waitin, but the four of them still got up and walked to the door, eagerly anticipating the arrival of their friends. 

Steve was about to go and sit down, until he caught sight of a familiar figure. "Bucky!" He yelled, causing a lot of the people waiting to turn and look at him. Bucky's head whipped around, as Steve started running towards him, and decided to run to Steve as well. The others followed, walking (or jogging in Clint and Laura's case) exitedly towards each other. Bucky and Steve launched themselves into each other's arms.

"God, I missed you," Bucky said quietly, releasing Steve. Steve nodded in agreement, before they both moved to greet everyone else. They seemed to have a mutual understanding that they'd properly say hello to each other once they got back to Bucky's house.

\------

After they all met, Natasha headed back to the studio with Peter and May, because she had promised Peter that once she'd got back she'd give him an extra-long lesson to make up for all the ones she'd missed. She'd also told Peter where the spare key to the studio was hidden, and once they were in the car, May told her that once the school holidays had started, Peter had been down there almost every day. Nat smiled at this, grateful that Peter hadn't given up drumming for the while, although she had told herself that he wouldn't. 

"It's a nice place you've got here," said May admiringly as they walked into the studio. "You planning on moving now you've got more money?" 

Nat looked around the place fondly. "Nope!" She answered, putting her stuff down. "Just wouldn't feel right, y'know?" 

May nodded, and Nat started her lesson with Peter. He really had been practicing, and he was eager to show Nat what he had taught himself while she was away. Nat sure as hell was impressed, and she could tell May was too, although she suspected that she'd heard it before. Once he had finished, Peter looked around the room proudly, and the two of them clapped. He went slightly pink at this. 

"That was great!" said Nat enthusiastically. None of them could stop smiling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hellollolooooooooooo!!!!!! Why the hell did that take me so long!?!?!!!???? Who knows? Who cares? Ok bye bye bitches.


	25. Chapter 25

They only had three days off before they had to go back to doing concerts (it''s not that Bucky didn't like concerts, he loved them, he just missed Steve when he went away), and Bucky planned to spend every chance he got with Steve. 

He only had three days, so they he decided to do something fun. Of course, they invited the rest of the team, Laura and Peter included. So, on the middle day of their time off, they all headed to Coney Island. 

Bucky has been to Coney Island quite a few times before, and he knew everyone else had as well, but Coney Island was just one of those things you didn't really get tired of. 

It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining, and they walked through the theme park happily, glad that summer had actually decided to show itself at last. Bucky has already gotten a tan, and Steve was definitely appreciating it. He honestly didn't think his boyfriend could get any hotter, but, yet again, he was proven wrong.

They were all feeling a bit windswept, seeing as they had just gotten off of the Parachute Jump. Laura, Peter and Bucky were all looking slightly green and queasy, but everyone else seemed fine. Peggy and Nat has jumped out completely unfazed, Nat acting professional, like she'd done this two many times before, and not just at Coney Island. Steve was pretty sure that Peggy couldn't be phased by anything, if someone aimed a gun at her she would probably hardly even blink. Steve, Sam and Clint, however, loved it. Clint had always loved heights, and the ride was exactly the sort of thing he liked. Steve had never been afraid of heights like everyone else was, and instead of hating the fear of falling, he loved it. Sam acted like he was flying as he went down, and Steve could easily imagine that he had a pair of wings on his back. I'll have to draw that later, Steve thought to himself.

The fear had worn off everyone from the ride, and just the the exhilaration was left. They all seemed to bounce around, the adrenaline acting almost like caffeine, especially to Peter, who seemed to jump miles high with every step he took. 

"Hey, let's go on the Cyclone!" Sam yelled, a huge smile on his face. He got a lot of exited shouts in agreement, and they all started heading towards where the huge rollercoaster was. 

Steve, on the other hand, had gone deathly pale. He felt like he was going to throw up. Luckily, Bucky noticed and headed over. 

"You all good there, Stevie?" asked Bucky, concerned. Steve didn't trust himself enough to open his mouth and not throw up, so he just nodded weakly. He tried to hide the fact that he was starting to shake, but Bucky easily read through his act. "Are you sayin' you loved to jump off a 76 meter tall tower, but you're scared to go on a rollercoaster?" he asked raising an eyebrow. Steve nodded, but only slightly enough for Bucky to see. "Come on," he said, smiling and wrapping his arms around Steve's shoulders, "it'll be fine."

Steve tried his best to believe that as they headed towards the white and red rollercoaster, but his brain was still screaming at him to run. Luckily for him, the queue wasn't too long, which gave Steve less time to regret this then he already had. They got on, Steve squished in a train with Bucky, and it set off.

Steve loved it. He felt like he was flying. Or riding a dragon. Or both. He squealed in delight as the rollercoaster flung them about, and he could hear Bucky laughing beside him. Maybe he still clung onto the bar that had secured them in a bit more tight then necessary, but he still loved it. 

When they got off, Steve promptly ran over to a bin and threw up. He had never been to good with moving very fast, or for a long time, and he oftenly got travel sickness when he was in the car for a long time. The rest of the team ran after him, concerned, they knew how scared he was beforehand. He heard a lot of 'Steve, are you ok?'s, and 'oh my god, are you alright?'s. He turned around and grinned.

"Let's do that again!" 

\------

Steve and Bucky found themselves roaming around the streets. The sun didn't set until quite late in July, and the last of the evening's light had just disappeared behind the horizon. The street lamps, however, still flooded the roads with light, and the warmth from the sun still remained. 

After they had all gone to Coney Island, the team had split up. Bucky suspected that Clint and Laura had gone on a little date night like theirs, although maybe a bit more posh then just walking around the familiar streets and going wherever they felt. He didn't have a clue what anyone else was doing, for all he knew they could be with the penguins in the zoo. Or Nat could be trying (and succeeding) to get into the vents at their studio. Again.

Steve was taking him somewhere, and Bucky was following happily behind him. Soon enough, they were there. Steve dragged him inside the gay bar, which had giant pride flags hanging on the outside of it, there would be no mistaking it for a regular bar. The lights where low and flashing, so Bucky decided to take off his glasses, seeing as no one could properly see his face anyway.

They talked for a bit, sang along to some of the songs playing out of the speakers, and just overall had a good time. Bucky excused himself, needing to go to the toilet. When he got back, however, Steve was not there. He looked around the bar, wondering where Steve could've wandered off to, but after a minute he realized he couldn't see Steve anywhere. He looked around more worriedly now, desparate to catch a glimpse of Steve's face. 

After a minute or so, he did. He saw Steve through one of the tiny windows that looked into a dead-end alley that ran down the side of the building. It had been mostly covered up by posters and notices, but you could still see out of it. Bucky rushed out to the alley, where he saw Steve slowly retreating down it, to big, burly men blocking his way out. 

"I said, leave them alone!" Steve yelled at the men, his voice sounding tinny and small in the dark alley. The men just laughed. There was blood streaming down his face already, Bucky didn't want to imagine what it would look like if they punched him again. 

Bucky dragged them away from Steve. "Go pick on someone your own size!" He yelled at them as he easily blocked a punch being thrown at him. The men scampered off once they realized if they fought, they would be beaten. 

"I had 'em on ropes," Steve said, as Bucky approached him.

"Sure you did," 

"It's just, there were these two girls- I can't let them get away with beating them up!" He said angrily. 

"You know, sometimes I think you like getting punched," Bucky said, laughing, and Steve started spluttering in protest. Bucky ignored him and put an arm round his shoulders. "Come on, let's get you home."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> look at this, I had no clue what to do and I wrote 1250 words!!!! Anyway, I wrote the first half while 'watching' the grand tour with my dad so sorry if there are any weird random words in it. Byeeeeee


	26. Chapter 26

Nat whipped out her phone, ready to start recording. She could probably, at least, get 45 seconds of video of Bucky to a) show Steve and b) embarrass Bucky with. She wasn't needed to play her instrument until the chorus, because it was one of those occasions when someone had wheeled a keyboard on stage for Bucky to play. He started playing the notes, and they sounded out into the audience, sounding both loud and empowering but small and lonely at the same time. Then he started to sing, his voice loud and rich.

_'When the days are cold,_

_And the cards all fold,_

_And the saints we see_

_Are all made of gold._

_When our dreams all fail,_

_And the ones we hail_

_Are the worst of all_

_And our blood runs stale.'_

Clint and Sam started to join in, playing their guitars softly in the background. The audience had turned their phone torches on now, and they looked like millions of little stars swaying in time to the music. It was almost serene as the crowd sang along, but not to loudly, not wanting to overpower Bucky and everyone on stage.

_'I want to hide the truth,_

_I want to shelter you,_

_But with this beast inside,_

_There's no where we can hide._

_No Matter what we breed,_

_We still are made of greed._

_This is my kingdom come,_

_This is my kingdom come.'_

Nat had put her phone down now, ready to join in. When the chorus started, it started alright. The music suddenly got loud and powerful, Bucky getting up from the keyboard, singing as loud as he could. The audience were screaming their lungs out, not at all worried about over powering the music now.

_'When you feel my heat,_

_Look into my eyes,_

_It's where my demons hide,_

_It's where my demons hide._

_Don't get too close,_

_It's dark inside,_

_It's where my demons hide,_

_It's where my demons hide.'_

\------

Bucky thought it would be a shame if he was in New Orleans and he didn't get to meet up with the girl, Megan, who he video called a while ago. So, after a lot of searching, he found her account again and messaged her, asking her when she wanted to meet up. He knew he had a shit load of work to do back at the bus, but he also knew that if he did the groceries while he was out Peggy wouldn't murder him too bad. Maybe she wouldn't murder him at all if he got that weird British drink she likes (ribena, or something?).

She had told him to meet her in some kind of park/square (he had to look it up, not gonna lie) and so there he was, waiting for her to arrive. After about five minutes or so, she came, dragging a couple of reluctant looking friends behind her. Bucky recognised her immediately and started to make his way over. 

"D'you think it's really him, though?" He overheard one of her friends ask her doubtfully as he approuched. Her back was turned to him, but he was at least 50% sure that Megan had seen him, she was just waiting for him to do something.

"Yeah, it could just be a prank, or a creepy,old man!" The other added, with a strong New Orleans accent.

Megan tried to assure them that she was sure it was him, so Bucky felt like like it was a perfect time to interrupt. "Hey Megan!" he said, lifting his sunglasses onto the top of his head, "How are ya?" 

Megan turned around to see him, "Hi Bucky!" she said cheerfully, a victorious smile on her face. She turned back to her friends. "See, I told y'all he would come!" Her friends' jaws had dropped. They looked completely and utterly stunned. Bucky didn't know whether he should laugh or not. 

"So..." he began, trying to break the awkward tension, "what do ya wanna do? I dont know this place very well, so it's up to you!" 

\------

Thank god, Peggy thought, as she watched Bucky leave the bus. She waited for a moment, almost like she was waiting until he definately couldn't hear her, and then yelled at the top of her voice, "Team meeting!" 

Everyone heard (it was quite easy to yell at everyone when you practically live on a bus) and came into the living area where Peggy was, throwing themselves on the couches, Sam with the plate of toast he'd been making. Why he was eating toast at 3:15 in the afternoon, she had no idea.

Before Peggy started speaking, she got out her phone and pulled up her messages between herself and Steve. They had been texting for a while now, and at one point they'd come up with the brilliant idea that she was going to share with the team today. Once she had done that, she pulled out her laptop, and started explaining while Skype loaded. 

"So," she started, looking up at the team around her, "me and Steve have an idea, which he's probably going to tell you all about once I Skype him," she paused for a minute, calling Steve on Skype and waiting for him to pick up. The screen crackled, and Steve came into veiw. 

"Have you told them yet?" Steve asked, his voice sounding weird and distant through the computer. Probably because he was distant. It is quite far between Louisiana and New York.

"No, I have not," Peggy answered, shaking her head. The rest of the people there with them were looking at the pair curiously now, wondering what was going on.

"Right," Steve started, addressing the group now, "we've had an idea, but you've got to swear not to tell Bucky." A mischevious smile was beginning to break out onto his face now, and most of the others were smiling too. Well, apart from Sam. He just looked completely and utterly confused. 

They all swore not to tell Bucky ('I swear on my last Gucci donut' 'Clint, no'), even if they didn't have a clue what they were swearing about. They all looked at Steve and Peggy expectantly.

"So here's the plan."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> helllollolooeoeoeolo. Godamit I have that princess and the frog song stuck in my head now. I got friends on the other side. Don't judge, its literally the best disney movie ever. THE BEST!!!! okay, bye bye. 
> 
> Ps demons is the best imagine dragons song fight me


	27. Chapter 27

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WERE FINALLY ON THE LAST FUCKING CHAPTER THANK GOD. WHY DID I HAVE TO DO 27 BLOODY PARTS I SWEAR TO GOD I'M GOING TO GO BACK IN A TIME MACHINE AND MURDER MYSELF. enjoy

Peggy thought back to the manic last two or three weeks. It wasn't just the concerts that had made it so busy, booking a flight from New York to London last minute had been crazy too. But, however much she complained, it was worth it. It was worth it to give Bucky their awesome suprise reunion in London, and so Clint and Laura could have their own awesome, but not so suprise, one when they got back to New York. 

The O2 areana was huge, Peggy thought she would have trouble hiding Steve from Bucky, but all Steve really needed to do was act like he was just one of the regular people going to the concert. He was doing a brilliant job, and over text he sounded like he was having a brilliant time. They agreed that he would come back stage and meet Peggy about half of the way through the show, which is when, Peggy noticed, the point they didn't go back to back stage until just before the end. She liked to call it the point of no return. 

The band came off the stage for a little while, maybe three or so minutes before they went out and did encores, which Steve took as his cue to leave. He jumped out from backstage, making sure he was in the shadows so the audience couldn't see him. He then tried to get to the very frount, which wasn't nearly as hard as he expected, being his size.

\------

Bucky took a quick sip of water (aka he downed the whole bottle in one go) before heading back on stage. His smile shone contagiously, and an extra song did absolutely nothing to help the surges of adrenaline that were rushing through him. 

"Okay, thank you all for comin' tonight!" He yelled out to the audience, earning a huge cheer back. "I'm sorry to say-"

"Hey, Bucky!" That caught Bucky's attention. No one called him Bucky, not unless they knew him. And that voice... sounded like Steve's. He looked into the crowd and saw Steve, right there smiling at him. Steve. Steve. His Steve, the one he hadn't seen for months, was right there. 

"Steve?" He asked, not into the microphone this time, but to Steve. He nodded, and Bucky felt shocked it wasn't all some kind of cruel, happy dream. He beckoned for Steve to join him on stage, then turned to the rest of the Avengers. "Did you guys know?" They all nodded at him. 

"You know what," Bucky said, into the microphone now, having regained his cool, "I have one last song for you. One that I was plannin' on releasin' in New York, but seein' as this beautiful little shit," he lifted Steve onto stage, "decided not to tell me he was goin' to be here today, we're playin' it now. This is for you, Steve." 

The music started up and he waltzed Steve around the stage, just like they had done back at Steve's house. It was beautiful, a mix of Natasha's drumming, both Clint and Sam's guitars, but what Bucky loved the most about that moment was the fact Steve, Steve, was here, and Bucky was dancing him around a stage, infrount of thousands of people, and that Steve was here. Then Bucky started singing, his voice rich and happy as he pulled Steve slightly closer to his chest.

'Something 'bout the way that you 

Walk into my living room,

Casual and confident,

looking at the mess I am,

And still you,

Still you want me.'

Bucky heard Steve let a small laugh. "Of course I want you, you idiot," Bucky laughed, and looked down at Steve's face, which had joy radiating out of it at every angle. He couldn't get enough of it. Why does my boyfriend have to be so pretty, he thought to himself. Well, he hand properly seen Steve for months, you could let him off.

'Stress lines and cigarettes,

Politics and deficits,

Late bills and overage,

Screamin' and hollerin',

But still you,

Still you want me.'

Bucky twirled Steve around, trying to look at Steve from every angle he could before he pulled Steve closer to him and span him round faster as the music sped up and got louder as they got into the chorus.

'I've, always let you down,

Shattered on the ground,

Still I find you there,

Next to me.

And all, stupid things I do,

I'm far from good as true,

Still I find you there,

Next to me.'

Bucky, with just the corner of his mind, Could hear the crowd cheering now. Even if the weren't cheering, he wouldn't have cared, because all he really cared about was there, right infront of him, his blue eyes sparkling in the lights, and even if it was dark, it was perfect. He wouldnt change it for anything.

'There's something 'bout the way that you,

Always see the pretty veiw,

Overlook the mud and mess,

Always lookin' effortless,

And still you,

Still you want me.

I got no innocence,

Faith ain't no privilege. 

I am a deck of cards,

Vice or a game of hearts,

And still you, 

Still you want me.'

How am I this lucky? Bucky thought as he watched Steve laugh and smile and dance. I have an angel, he thought, and Steve sure did look like one, even though his shirt was slightly creased from all dancing and his hair stuck up in every direction. In Bucky's opinion, that just made him even cuter, but, then again, Steve always looked cute. 

'I've, always let you down, 

Shattered on the ground,

Still I fing you there,

Next to me.

And all, stupid things I do,

I'm far from good as true,

Still I find you there,

Next to me.'

Bucky's voice got quieter now. The music slowed, and he broke apart from Steve a little bit. He angled Steve's face up so he could see him, desparate to see all o him before it was to late. Tears started flowing down his face, and Bucky could see that there were already tear tracks down Steve's face, a radiant, joyful smile shining through them. 

'So thank you,

For taking a chance on me,

I know it isn't easy,

But I hope to be worth it.'

So thank you,

For taking a chance on me,

I know it isn't easy,

But I hope to be worth it.'

It took everything Bucky had to stop his voice from cracking, and he poured every emotion he had into the song, really, really, genuinely meaning something for once in his life. Then, something took hold, and he belted out the song with everything he had.

'I've, always let you down,

Shattered on the ground,

Still I find you there,

Next to me.

And all, stupid things I do,

I'm far from good as true,

Still I find you there,

Next to me.'

Bucky couldn't help himself. The song had finished, his song for Steve, so he kissed Steve, putting all the months of missing and wanting into that one touch. Bucky didn't care about the crowd around him, because it was just Steve and him, him and Steve. He didn't want to let go, not now, not ever, so for a few more seconds they just stayed, existed within one another. When they pulled apart, even though they didn't want to, they stayed in a tight embrace, foreheads resting against each other. He stared into Steve's beautiful, blue eyes not being able to get enough. 

"I love you, Bucky," Steve whispered, taking Bucky's breath away. 

"I love you too, Steve," he whispered back. He knew that even if they hadn't said anything, they would've both known it, in their heads and in their hearts. 

_It's Steve_ , he thought to himself, overjoyed, _Steve, Steve, Steve, Steve, right here._

_Next to me._

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for actually reading this!! All the songs and the cover belong to imagine dragons not me. Thanks again! Also constructive criticism is helpful!!!!


End file.
